Tidbits of Joy

Zeke's home birth story

2011-08-01T21:01:00.003-06:00

I know I'm tardy on posting about many happenings around here, but I have to get Z's birth story out while it is still fresh in my mind. So, here it is!

My last months of pregnancy were hectic and a little overwhelming. I wrapped up the school year and finished my job as the Health Office Director (school nurse) at a local school. They didn't find my replacement until the last day of school, so I was back on the job training her while VERY pregnant and well into my summer break...ugh. That's all behind me now, though, and I am SO enjoying my indefinite time off! My mom came to help me pack up our basement apartment (Mike had to work) and move back into our lovely condo. The day after she left, Mike's mom came and stayed for almost 3 weeks. She pretty much took 100% care of Selah for that entire time. She also filled my fridge and freezer in anticipation of the babe, such a treat for us!

This pregnancy was quite different than my first. While I was nauseous for nearly the entire pregnancy, I didn't have the insatiable appetite that I had with Selah. With her, I felt like I had to eat constantly and with Z, if I ate too much or too rich, I nearly lost my cookies. I was able to run within a week of my due date the first time, but running got really painful around 37 weeks this time. I ran a 5K at 36 weeks and another at 38 weeks, but didn't run at all between them and not a single time after the last 5K. I ended up gaining about 50 pounds with Selah despite all that running, and right around 30 this time--and what a difference 20 pounds makes. My feet and legs never swelled, even in the July heat, my blood pressure was never above about 118/70, and I maintained a waist through the very end--he just stuck straight out. Selah was exactly 6 days early and Z came exactly 6 days late. Now, at one week post partum, I am 10 pounds from my pre pregnancy weight and already running! I hit the trails with both kids in the Chariot today and banged out 4 or 5 miles without an issue.

Ok, NOW for the birth story...

Sunday night, we had a nice little family picnic and stayed out way past Selah's bedtime. We had a blast slacklining, BBQing, watching the river, and just enjoying each other. I had mild contractions the whole night but convinced myself that it was once again false labor since they didn't seem to be getting more painful or frequent. I went to bed at about 11:00 Sunday night, continued to have the contractions, and started to get a little hopeful that this might be the real thing. At 5:20 I woke up, realized I'd been asleep for the entire night, and started cursing that I'd once again been fooled and was most definitely not in labor. I was pissed. I was sick of being pregnant and was almost 2 weeks past the point where Selah was born. I was sure that this was going to just be another day like all the rest. I got up to pee and went back to bed. At 5:28, I was jolted awake by the sensation of my water breaking. I jumped out of bed and ran back to the toilet, leaving puddles wherever I went. I called Mike in and told him my water had definitely broken and he promptly went back to sleep. I tried to lie down but was too excited to lay in bed and the sun was starting to come up, so I got up and made some coffee and breakfast. During Selah's birth, I was unable to keep any food or fluids down, so I knew I should eat and drink while possible. I called my midwife, who suggested I go for a walk to try and get labor going.

I went outside in the cool quiet of the day and walked for a half hour or so. I called my mom and Sari (who was to take Selah) and just enjoyed the fact that I knew I was going to have a baby today! I started to have contractions that made me stop and breathe and slowly made my way back home. The contractions stayed relatively mild and I was able to take care of Selah, talk, clean up, etc between them. Around 8:00, I called my midwife again and told her things were moving and to slowly make her way over. She arrived at 9:30 and labor was still very tolerable--relatively mild contractions every 4-5 minutes for about 45 seconds. By 11:30, things were getting painful and I asked her to check me. I was 3cm and 90% effaced and after that things quickly turned. Suddenly, I was sometimes falling asleep and unable to speak between contractions. Breathing became extremely focused and I just tried to maintain control. I also started vomiting. By 12:15, I started to grunt during my contractions and told Jasmine I thought I was almost ready to push. She had me get on the toilet and asked me to breathe through some contractions without pushing. I was able to do that for a few very painful contractions. On the next contraction (12:45 now), my body took over and REALLY started pushing. I screamed "JASMINE THE BABY IS COMING!", she ran into the bathroom and told me to get to the birthing pool, about 12 feet away from the toilet. I didn't think I could move and was convinced the baby was going to be born on the toilet. She told me to stand up and forcefully say "WHA WHA WHA WHA" as I waddled that seemingly impossible distance. As soon as I got in the pool, I started pushing again and in a single push, the head was out. One more and the body was out, official time of birth was 12:47. We were delighted to see we had a boy! Jasmine said she gave me from 11:30-12:42 for active labor and those last 5 minutes for pushing. This labor was infinitely easier than the first. Yeah, it hurt like hell for that last hour, but it was only an hour. Labor isn't scary to me anymore. I know if I go through it again, it will be okay.

Now we're a week out and I am LOVING little Z man. I'm still getting used to the fact that boys pee in streams and it goes everywhere (the poor kid soaked his own face last night). Selah is loving him too and we're just a happy little family. I took the kids out for a run today and made it 4 1/2 miles and felt like I could have kept on running.

Pictures to follow.

The latest in pictures

2011-05-27T21:55:00.006-06:00

Marge came to visit in February and we took her skiing for the first (and last) time. She was a trooper and her Iowa friends were seriously impressed. Selah didn't have the patience for Grandma, though, and opted to ski laps around her instead of wait. Visits from Grandma Margie are so special--S gets her undivided attention 100% of the time. They have a very sweet connection.

We spent a day in the Colorado National Monument hiking, picnicking, and enjoying the scenery. The Monument is one of our favorite places to climb, bike, and run.

We had the enormous privilege of joining my family in Hawaii this Spring! S and I got a full two weeks and M came out for the second half. This was such a treat for us and times like this make me incredibly thankful for my family. I work with some students of divorced (and fighting) parents and had dealt with some of their serious family issues just prior to the trip. Throughout our time, I couldn't stop thinking about how important family is as an adult, let alone as an adolescent. I feel so blessed to have parents that love each other and that can provide this sort of opportunity for us. We spent our time in Maui well, as in every day was full of adventures--hiking, running, snorkeling, burying S in the sand.

Dad and I. I'm about 24 weeks here.

Mom had the wonderful idea of visiting the aquarium so Selah could figure out what was under the water. She was enthralled with the fish.

Maui is for lovers.

Pool time in Hawaii is one of my top 5 memories of all time. The entire pool area rolled with laughter watching Wes and Selah play. In this shot, you can also see Selah is looking through the port hole on her boogie board, a present from Papa. She got used to it in the pool while we all swam underneath her and made silly faces. Later, we took her in the ocean and she had a blast looking at all the fish and coral. She would go with us while we snorkeled and would last for a solid half hour!

Sea.
Mike and Wes ran the classic "Sea to Summit" route on Mount Haleakala. It goes from sea level to just over 10,023 feet of elevation in about 19 miles via Kaupo Gap. Dad did it solo before the rest of us arrived and did a great job of scoping the beta for the boys. Since there's a highway to the summit, most people opt for hiking Summit to Sea, but c'mon, all of my readers know my family. Dad and I hiked about 15 miles that day ourselves and picked the boys up on top.

Summit.

Family photo op! Mom and I threatened to hire a professional photographer if we couldn't all look nice at the same time within 24 hours of the mandate. This is more of a struggle than you think with a family that plays hard EVERY day until the last possible moment and everyone comes home stinky and covered in grime!

Family paddle board time.

I have no words.

We all took turns jumping off of this dam on the Waihe'e River Valley trail.

Aunty Stef and Selah love each other sooo much!

Aunty Stef and Grandma hooked S up with a hula skirt for her 2nd birthday!! How fun!

And some photos of the remainder of the past couple months:

This is Noah and S in the tub on one of our many unintentional DIA layovers. I feel kind of bittersweet about the fact that nearly 100% of the time, I have flights canceled between Denver and Aspen. I have been stranded in Denver so many times in the past year that I've lost count. The sweet part is that Hannah and Jarred live just a short drive from DIA and Hannah has figured out that every time I call, she should just get in the car and start driving to the airport to pick me up. I've started to look forward to travel delays so the kiddos can play and the mamas can chat!

I ran the Horsetooth Half Marathon in April at 27 weeks pregnant with my friends Kathleen and Anne (not pictured). We had a great time together and made a weekend out of it. Mike was teaching all weekend, so another friend took over babysitting and watched S while I ran. He lured her into the Chariot with Mike n Ike's, started riding his bike along the course, and she fell asleep within a few minutes. He rode all over the course and met up with me every couple miles. S was happy and cheered me on from the Chariot. The race went really well and I felt so good at mile 9 that I picked it up and probably passed 300 people in the last 4 miles. I must admit, I love all the "go mama!" cheers and double takes, especially when I'm passing the double takers. I ended up running a 2:08, about 30 minutes faster than the half I ran while pregnant with S, and only had to pee 3 times!

I'm 33 weeks now and still running quite a bit, 6-7 miles a few days a week. I'm biking and hiking the other days as time permits. I am happily pregnant right now and trying to savor this experience with the realization I may never be pregnant again. My nausea finally subsided at 24 weeks and I have yet to hit the third trimester blahs. Running feels relatively comfortable, much more so than with Selah. I remember having a lot of pain in my hips after running with her and I'm not experiencing any running related pain this pregnancy. I'm thankful and hope to keep it up until the end.

This girl might just take after her mommy. This is about 3/4 mile up the Scout Trail, a steep single track in Glenwood and she had pretty much run the entire way thus far.

Easter!

One of S's favorite past times is going through "muddles", whether on foot or on her bike, she wants to jump and splash.

Family climbing day.

Selah is 100% addicted to her Strider. She wants to ride it constantly and is getting decent at it!

Living where most people go on vacation

2011-02-27T21:24:00.006-07:00

And this is why we live in a vacation town...

There is just so much to DO! Here are some pictures, just a sampling of our last 2 weeks.

We watched wind whip prayer flags atop a local backcountry peak. Mike took this picture on an after work ski date with Selah.

We went for a climbing-outing-turned-hike on a very muddy trail.

We watched our cute little girl run down the sidewalk in her sweater from Great Grandma Claire.

We enjoyed each other and a sleeping baby on a bluebird day atop William's Peak.

So sweet.

We skied Buttermilk, where Selah graduated from being held up by one of us to being slowed down by a homemade harness. She can balance on the skis pretty well now, but can't turn to slow herself down. Mike's mom is coming from Iowa soon and has promised to go skiing with us! At age 59, she'll get on the bunny hill for the first time!

We went sledding post skin-and-ski on William's Peak.

We built a mohawked snowman, then we played PeekaBoo around him with lots of giggles.

Our climbing outing turned into a hike for two reasons. First, Selah insisted on walking, which is great, but she has tiny little legs and can't seem to focus long enough to go in a straight line. Second, the trail was covered in 2-3 inches of wet mud, which made the going even slower and made Miss Joy not want to hang out and climb in the mud. Yes, I admit it, I was whining.

In other news, we had our 20 week ultrasound a few days ago and all systems look to be in order! Mike held fast and made us look away while the tech checked the babe's femur length, so we never saw the goods. This was our one and only chance to find out, so if all goes as planned, the sex of Baby Schneids #2 will remain a surprise for another 20ish weeks. I'm glad we didn't look because I remember that being such a powerful moment with Selah. I'm feeling OK, still quite nauseous, though exercise, lighter meals, and fresh air seem to help. I'm working on the crabbiness, seriously trying not to drive my husband completely insane. Exercise definitely makes a difference in that department as well--running will literally probably keep our marriage together, and I'm not just talking pregnancy here. I wish non-exercisers could grasp the importance of endorphins as mood-boosters, but then the trails and bike paths would be really crowded. I just registered for a half marathon that I'll be running at 27 weeks. Not going for any records, but it's supposed to have the best after party in Colorado and a few of my friends are running, so why not.

18 weeks and running again!

2011-02-17T20:17:00.006-07:00

Today was a much needed great day. We kept S home from school because she woke up with a fever in the middle of the night, but she really did okay all day. This meant that I got to spend the day with her, which makes me so happy! She needed some extra TLC and sleep, but that's what mamas are for. Mike came home in the early afternoon and I had to take a student to a long appointment in a neighboring town. I came prepared, ie in my running clothes, dropped her off and went for my first real run in about 3 weeks. It has been sunny and in the 40's for several days, but today was blustery, cloudy, and new wet snow blanketed the ground. I didn't care. After several 12 hour days in a row (flu hit boarding school, enough said) and no chance for exercise, I was SO excited to get out, it could have been any weather in the world. I chose to run up a snowy gravel road that winds its way up 1800 feet in 3.25 miles to the top of a mountain. The road is gated, so no traffic, and one of my favorite year-round routes. My foot was acting up a little in the beginning of the run, but it warmed up as I did and hurt just a tiny bit! I am so happy!! Mike called when I reached the top of the mountain and told me I had to be back home in an hour, showered and ready to go, he wouldn't tell me what for. I had over 3 miles to run and a 20+ minute drive to make it, plus had to get ready and I just barely made it. When I got home, he gave me directions and sent me back out the door. My sweet man had scheduled a full body massage for me as a surprise! I have been pretty irritable lately with the long hours, lack of running, and prego hormones. This afternoon was just what I needed. Now I have to control myself and not overdo it. I remember having a similar experience when I was pregnant with S--foot pain due to Relaxin weakening the tendons and ligaments in my feet. I also need to figure out how to combat the nausea! I'm 18 weeks and nauseous most of the day, worse than in my first trimester. Ugh.

Mike raced in the 12 Hours of Sunlight this weekend with his friend Bobby Lowe. It's a skin up, ski down course and whoever does the most laps in 12 hours wins in his/her respective category (solo, duo, 4 person team). Mike and Bobby pulled off consistently very fast laps, all in the 30-35 minute range, but that was only good for 2nd place. The winners were still breaking 30 minutes/lap after having done 10 or 11 laps each! The course involves a 1500' climb, transition from skinning to skiing, and then the descent. Breaking 30 minutes is incredibly fast, especially after going hard for so long. The racers enjoyed gorgeous weather this year. I remember several years ago watching our friend Mark Regier race the same course, but it was about 50 degrees colder and the race was 24 hours instead of 12. I'd call this an improvement.

I had a request for a post on having a natural birth the second time around. I have given this much thought and would like to share my ideas on the subject. If I were honest, I'd have to say that I'm more fearful this time. Having experienced a natural birth, I know how difficult and painful it is. Last time, I wasn't afraid because I didn't know what to expect. Last time I also said "been there, done that, next time I get an epidural!". Why then, you ask, would you choose to go through this again? In my opinion, the benefits to a natural home birth outweigh the risks and difficulties. I know I won't have any pain relief, but epidurals often, through a twisted chain of events, lead to unnecessary C-Sections. I know I'll feel everything while pushing the baby out, but I am convinced that feeling everything allowed me to slow the pushing down, support myself where I felt I needed it, and thus keep all my parts intact. I am also convinced that my quick recovery was due to the natural birth: running at 10 days post partum and road biking at 12. I also know that second labors are usually quicker and easier than first labors. It took me 12 hours of hard contractions every 3 minutes, vomiting, and me thinking I couldn't handle any more, than I must be in transition....to get to 1 cm and 85% effaced. I almost gave up. Many women that have already had children walk around in the end of their pregnancies dilated to 2 or 3--I think of that as 12 hours off my labor time! The biggest factor in my decision to have another home birth is the memory of our new family going into our bed together the night Selah was born. After getting cleaned up, Mike and I just layed in bed and stared at her in pure adoration. The three of us bonded very deeply that night, and that experience would have been completely missed at a hospital. In our hospital, at least, the beds are slightly smaller than a twin and the babies are not allowed to sleep in bed with the mothers. I really really really want to have that bonding experience with my family again. I would appreciate the thoughts of my readers on the matter, as I understand how controversial home birth can be.

And of course, belly shots! Mike took these tonight, at 18 weeks 2 days.

Baby is sitting quite high this time. I was out of my regular jeans at 10 weeks with Selah, but I'm still buttoning normal pants with this one as long as they're low and stretchy. I swore I wouldn't gain 45 pounds again, but I'm already up about 15. I was up 20 pounds at 16 weeks with Selah, so better this time but still not great.

Mom found the following photos from Christmas and just sent them. They're so cute, I had to share:

Selah and Wesley. She talks about Wes every single day, but it usually has something to do with pooping, farting, or boogers. Sometimes she talks about how he throws her in the air and gives her toys.

Puzzles with Aunty Stef.

My gorgeous girl.

My gorgeous mom. She uses Rodan and Fields, by the way. Try to tell me her skin doesn't look unbelievable for a 58 year old! If you're interested in looking like her, email me at tidbitsofjoy@hotmail.com or check out my website, Jschneiter.myrandf.com.

Cute family photo despite the snow giving us a funny blurred look.

She's figuring it out

2011-02-05T19:46:00.005-07:00

Today was a very successful ski day for the girl! She bumped up her normal 3 runs to about 10 and was all smiles all day...well, most of the day. She is just 1, so we can't be too picky! She has learned to ski with much less assistance and now gets speed checks from us here and there, but often will ski long stretches by herself. It is SO FUN to see her learn and to see how fast she improves. She'll be schooling me by the time she's 4! It turns out that all of the Aspen mountains have free skiing for kids under age 6, so we get several more years of this.

Cheese!

5 minutes into the ride home, love those active days.

16 weeks and sadly not running

2011-02-04T20:26:00.007-07:00

I'm well into my second trimester and although this pregnancy overall seems easier than the first, I find that the nausea is dragging on and I have an annoying injury I can't seem to shake. Until about 2 weeks ago, my running was going really well. I was sticking with 40-50 miles/week with runs up to 17 miles and feeling strong. I feel like I could have kept that up no problem, but seem to have developed some sort of soft-tissue injury in my right arch. After a great week of running (including that 17 miler), my arch started bugging me a little after runs. In my normal sensibility, I completely ignored it and did about 30 miles in 3 days. Big mistake, the pain started keeping me up at night and my foot ached all day. So, like any regular person, I figured one day off should fix it. The next day, I went out for 10 minutes and was limping so bad that I had to turn around and painfully walk home. I then took 6 days off! In a row!! Serious sacrifice here! After the break, went out for an easy 5 miler, had no problems most of the run, but started having twinges by the end and again was kept up at night with the pain. I have now taken another 5 or 6 days off and the foot still hurts just walking around. I actually have a palpable lump in the middle of my arch and it's swollen. Luckily, there was a warm spell here and I was able to get out on my road bike a couple times, did some rock climbing, some skinning up the local ski hill, and today went for a swim. There is just nothing like running, though. It's the only sport I've found that I can get ready for in 3 minutes, do from my front door, no partner or special equipment needed, and can get a killer workout in an hour. I miss it terribly and am desperately trying to let this foot heal so I can get back to it.

About two weeks ago, I had one of those experiences runners often fear but rarely encounter. While on my normal loop with a friend, we came upon a man with two dogs on the side of the bike path. As we approached, one of the dogs let out a little growl, so we edged around to the other side of the path to avoid it. As we passed, the dog ran after me, lunged, and sunk his teeth into the back of my thigh. I was shocked and shaken and even had myself a nice little cry. After getting my leg cleaned up in the closest bathroom, I went back and located the owner, who denied the dog ever having had such encounters before. He also assured me the dog was current with all of its shots. I decided to get his information anyway. This man lives in a neighborhood that is FULL of little kids and the dog bit me right at eye level on a toddler. I thought I had to do the neighborhood a service by contacting the police. Soon after getting off the phone with the officer, I got a call back telling me that the dog actually had a history of biting (3 times!!) and was not vaccinated. Needless to say, I opted to have the officer fine them for a vicious dog. The dog was also quarantined for 10 days to make sure it didn't have any signs of rabies. As far as I know, the dog was returned to his owners after the quarantine. The whole experience was more traumatic than I thought it would be. I had to take a round of antibiotics, which I hate to do even while not pregnant. I had to flush the wound out by myself, which hurt really freaking bad, and I still have a nasty looking wound nearly 3 weeks after the incident. I will most definitely have a scar from it. While I'm not a dog owner, I would hope that my response would be very much more apologetic and concerned than this owner was and I would seriously consider putting the dog down. He was nonchalant about the whole thing and hardly apologized for his dog, who was completely unprovoked and not defending its own territory. OK, that's enough whining from me, but here are some photos for evidence:

I took this about 24 hours out.

This is 10 days out. The scab is a little smaller than a dime.

Last weekend was wonderful. Mike, Selah, and I were all together the entire time and we just had so much fun. Saturday was beautiful, sunny, and unseasonably warm, so we headed to a winter crag for some climbing. Selah got to try out her new harness and I got to reawaken my arms after months of no climbing. We followed the climbing with a hot springs soak and yummy dinner. Sunday was supposed to be a little cooler, so we packed the car up and headed to the desert. We were also treated by Selah to a 7:30 wake up time! Incredible! We went to Colorado National Monument and when we got there, found out the road over the monument was closed, perfect for our roadbiking plans! We had the privilege of riding through the beautiful canyons and steep cliff faces with the road to ourselves. After riding for a few hours, we caught the last rays of sunlight and headed to the crags once again, this time to sandstone splitters. Here are some pics to document the weekend.

Selah enjoying her bar on the way to the crag. Check out the sweet shades on that babe!

Selah climbing in her chest harness. Since little kids don't have hips, they could theortically fall out of a harness if turned upside down. The chest harness makes this pretty much impossible and is much safer. It fits Selah juuuuust barely right now but should fit her until she grows hips!

While she does enjoy climbing, it is usually for a very short amount of time. She is however, easily entertained by rocks, dirt, flowers, sticks, spiders, waterbottles, and the like. She truly loves being outside and I am SO thankful for that!

Selah and I on Sunday near Fruita. While there was still quite a bit of snow on North-facing slopes, the road was clear enough to ride. Selah had fun pointing out all of the things she knew, such as rocks, which she says are for "climin", birdies that fly, airplanes (aepanes). When I asked her what kind of animals lived in the forest below, she swore that deer did not, but she thought cows did and probably moose, both of which "eat snow for dinner". She is also into colors, well color, because everything is "green" right now. So, I just stick to asking her what color trees, frogs, grass, and such things are.

Post ride hike to the crag in the beautiful evening light. Selah rode on Mike's shoulders most of the way, but wanted to get down and hike herself for the last part.

She tried climbing again and got about 10 feet off the ground, at which point she asked to swing and spin on the rope. She has no fear of hanging on the rope.

Selah and I have recently had two opportunities to take free mommy-daughter ski days. These days are so fun! While she still has basically zero control over the skis, she loves it and keeps asking to go.

On our second run on Snowmass last weekend, Selah fell asleep halfway up the chairlift and remained asleep through me getting her off the lift, skiing all the way down with her in my arms (she snored while my arms shook with fatigue), getting both of our skis off, and finding a sunny bench to sit on. She ended up sleeping for a good hour while I basked in the sun.

Once she discovered the gondola, which she keeps calling a truck, she just wanted to ride it up and down and up and down and up and down. The skiing was over, gondola rides are apparently MUCH cooler.

This is how all of our outside days end. Aaahhh.

My last big news? I officially gave my boss notice that I will not be returning to my job next year. As a family, we decided that I need to spend more time at home and less time stressing and working. These consistent 60 hour weeks are just too hard to maintain. To supplement our income, I have joined Rodan + Fields Dermatologists as an Independent Consultant. I am absolutely loving it, my business is thriving, and I can't wait to see where it takes our family. It is so nice to know that every hour I invest in this company is an hour I invest in myself. If you want the best skin of your life or could use some extra income, send me an email!

Goofy blon.de toddler is now a skier

2011-01-08T20:15:00.005-07:00

Goofy blonde toddler.

The photo above is my favorite view from the far end of my normal Chariot route, a 7 mile hilly and traffic-free loop through a sparsely inhabited neighborhood. I've been thinking lately about how one's physical place of residence has such an impact on one's exercise patterns. I have always had standard routes from my front door, and I must say that this living space provides the best yet. I have a consistently snow-plowed bike path in several directions and this 7 mile loop is one of 4 possibilities on the course (it can be cut short 3 ways). If I were to live in a place without baby jogger friendly running routes or had to drive somewhere to exercise, I can imagine a decrease in the daily habit. From my last house, the most practical daily route was just 4 miles, now it's 7. Makes one wonder how much of a difference 20 miles/week makes.

Oh, yeah, and there's this....I'm assuming most of my readers are also my facebook friends and are aware of the fact that we're expecting #2 in July. For those of you new to this information, I'm 12 weeks and having a relatively easy pregnancy thus far. Minimal symptoms, mostly good sleep, mostly good energy. I was running fast until this week, when my pace went abruptly from about 8:00/mile to about 10:00/mile. I don't know if that's due to the fact that I'm recovering from a horrendous bout of bronchitis and quite wheezy or just because I'm pregnant. I definitely got slow last time, too. I am just SUPER happy to be running and was able to do 13 miles a couple days ago without a hitch. My first prenatal appointment was this week and everything looks like it's on course. We are planning another homebirth and will again be surprised with the sex.

Selah is now 21 months and SO FUN to be around. She snuggles, is a non-stop talker, constantly laughs, plays, loves school. We are truly excited to be bringing #2 into the world. Selah makes our world so much better, I can't wait to see what the next one does.

Selah very much looks up to her friend Juniper, who is a good example of safety.

Often when we run, Selah asks to get out and run herself. On this day a few weeks ago, she ran about 3/4 of a mile along a bike path. Impressive!

The three of us went to Jackson for an extended Christmas break, a wonderful time had by all. Like always, we played really hard (aside from the days that I laid on the couch hacking up a lung and watching episode after episode of "I Didn't Know I was Pregnant"--TV when you're sick after 11 years of a TV-free existence can REALLY suck you in). We also made GREAT food, skied skied skied, and talked talked talked. All of you that know my mom and me can attest to our, um... talking habits.

As soon as Selah figured out what opening presents was all about, she was psyched and wanted to open all of them herself. Luckily, the rest of the family graciously complied.

Mike made his yearly sugar cookies and included the now traditional cockandballs cookie for mom.

Mom, Dad, Selah and I skinned Snow King on New Year's. It was 0 degrees, balmy if you're from Jackson. The warming hut with a panoramic view of the Tetons made it quite worth the ascent.

Wes skinning up something in the vast Teton backcountry.

Mike, dad, me and Wes celebrating a great day of backcountry skiing.

Here's a picture of Dad topping out on Mount Glory. He rallies for a guy that's 63, really even for a 25 year old. The guy is fit and currently weighs the same that he did in high school, about as much as I do at 3 months pregnant. He is always lifting or doing lunges or pulling his big rubber bands around or begging to pull Selah in the Chariot while skiing. It's a pretty awesome thing to see that in my dad, especially when last Christmas break he didn't move off the couch due to a total knee replacement.

Mike has been volunteering two nights a week as a climbing coach for his high school students. He has about 40 regular attendees, including the quarterback of the football team, a few XC kids, and many that have never done a sport before. He and the other volunteer coach have raised several thousand dollars toward an indoor climbing wall at their school and have been able to purchase shoes, harnesses, ropes, etc to take the students climbing outside. Pretty neat!

This is Selah and me today!! I am SO excited about her new skis that arrived yesterday and so is she! A friend and I took her cross country skiing in the Chariot and brought her skis and boots along to try. She skied for about 20 minutes and kept asking for "more skiing Selah". She was able to balance well giggled louder and louder the faster we went. Tomorrow is teacher appreciation day (read: free lift tickets for me and Mike) so we're taking her to the lifts. I can't wait!!

Oyster Meister Part 1: Red Hill

2010-12-01T15:03:00.000-07:00

Family time

2010-11-29T07:45:00.006-07:00

Check out SeaLegsGirl, she's made me famous by choosing a photo of yours truly as the best ultrarunning photo of the year. (Seriously, check it out, it'll make you laugh)

The past couple of weeks have been a delightful whirlwind. I somehow managed to race 3 times in a 7 day stretch, travel to Iowa and Missouri, spend a week with Mike's extended family, celebrate Thanksgiving, etc etc. It was fantastic. Spending 7 days with Selah just makes me so happy--and miss her all the more when work starts up again. She is growing into a sweet little girl with new words popping up every day. One of her favorite things to do is go through pictures and identify anyone she sees--if you're on the fridge, she knows your name. She also loves "simmin" and makes every effort to get us out the door to do so, like tracking down her swimming suit and waiting by the door. Taking her to the hot springs has become one of my all time favorite family activities.

The days have gotten shorter with the end of daylight savings, but we haven't been deterred from our evening runs. The above run was interrupted by a heinous sleet storm at the far end of a 6 mile loop. With 3 miles of running in sleet and 30mph winds blowing straight into our faces, I became a genuine whiner and begged to call a friend to pick us up. I was denied, of course, and Mike spent the half hour letting me draft behind him and joking around, making fun of my being "soft".

As for races, all 3 of the races were unique and inspiring. The first was unofficial, a contest between all of the willing students and faculty at the boarding school where I work. Of course, since I knew every contestant and was defending my title from last year, I think I ran harder in this event than either of the others. It was the first event in a 6 part series, including rock climbing, kayaking or swimming, mountain biking, XC skiing, and one more I can't remember at the moment. At the end, there will be overall winners for the combined efforts in 5 of 6 events. For each male and female student that finishes ahead of our headmaster and his wife, respectively, a large sum of money will go to the school club of that student's choice. All of the faculty are pledging different amounts of money, parents are getting involved, it's a pretty novel idea. This first contest is a 3 mile trail run that gains about 1500 feet on technical singletrack. I gave it my all, but finished 2nd to an 8th grade girl that was visiting in hopes of making a good impression on our Nordic coach. She succeeded! About 10 boys beat me.

Mass start on the road.

Our headmaster, a barefoot running enthusiast. He admittedly lost some mojo after encountering snow about 1/2 mile from the start that continued to the end!

The second race was in Cedar Falls, Iowa, a trail run on the Hartman Reserve. In nutshell: $5 entry, no race numbers, no official timers, no keeping track of who finished where, somewhere between 3 and 4 miles long. 100 people showed up for this entertaining and beautiful race and Mike snagged 2nd and I snagged 1st for women and 8th overall. I won an apple pie for my efforts--love that Midwestern spirit.

The 3rd race was the largest Turkey Trot in Missouri, 7100 participants on a blustery Thanksgiving morning. I PR'd here last year and was hoping for a similar performance. I missed my PR, but ran a respectable 21:23, good enough for 18th/3007 women and 3rd in my age category. Mike rallied and ran 17:44, winning his age category. I truly love running big races and the positive energy that comes with them. There were twice as many runners as residents in the entire town we live in. I love seeing so many people out trying to do something good for themselves before enjoying the Thanksgiving feast.

Celebrating his win with a fresh Krispy Kreme.

From IA, we drove to MO to join Mike's extended family for Thanksgiving. This was their 19th Annual Great Rieken Adventure, AGRA. Depending on the year, between 20 and 40 people show up and stay under one roof for about 5 days.

The incredible hosts, Tom and Donna. They go way above and beyond and are superiorly gifted hosts. The amount of preparation that goes into AGRA is pretty astounding, and they make it happen with smiles.

Selah's 2nd cousin, Gabby, who just turned 2. They were hilarious to watch as they chased each other around, played hide and seek, colored, tickled, and were genuinely sweet little girls.

Really, it's been 3 months??

2010-10-30T13:19:00.008-06:00

Wow, I knew I was a blogging slacker, but 3 months, really?! Sorry for all of you previously loyal followers... The combination of 60 hour work weeks, an 18 month old, XC season, and attempting to maintain an exercise schedule, well you get the point. Any how, here's a snippet of what's been going on with our little family.

Just after Tahoe, we went straight to Iowa for an extended visit. Many afternoons were spent at the pool because, in case you've never been to Iowa in July, it's freaking hot!

Selah loved this pair of goggles and wore them around for quite a while.

Iowa time was wrapped up with a family wedding. Here we with Mike's brothers, their ladies, and his mom, all dressed up.

August brought a Montana trip for a wedding on my side of the family (please forgive my lack of pictures of both wedding parties, I had to trim 3 months down somehow!).

I absolutely love this photo of 2nd cousins. Wish we all lived closer.

With September came the beginning of work for me and Mike and "school" for Selah. As much as I miss the heck out of her each day, she loves it. Most mornings, she puts her "pack pack" on and waits by the door.

Mike and I have enjoyed the minimal time we get together. It's been a gorgeous Fall in Colorado, like always, and we've gotten out to climb, hike, mountain bike, run, a little bit of everything. His XC schedule takes up most Saturdays and my on call schedule takes up pretty much the rest of them, so our time is limited. It's all or nothing for us--we have lots of time off (summers, holidays), but when we work, we work a LOT. We're trying to figure out a healthy balance and it has proven quite challenging.

Family hike day.

Daddy-daughter bouldering day. Selah got very excited about this little pothole on top of the boulder. I might be biased, but dang she is cute.

What would a tidbits of joy update be without a snippet on running? If I were honest, I'd say it took a full two months to recover from Tahoe 100. It was a completely different recovery experience than a 50 miler or marathon, where I feel normal after a few days. After Tahoe, I felt tired, heavy, and slow and didn't run farther than 10 miles for 2 whole months. For the first couple weeks of recovery, I slept until 10:30am every day (thank you, summertime!) and still felt ragged. Little by little, I got back at it and am now feeling fit again.

I have run 4 races since Tahoe, 3 of which were 5K's, 2 of which I actually won overall, and 1 where I got 2nd overall with the jogging stroller. The 4th was a half marathon in Denver. I know that doesn't sound consistent with feeling slow and heavy, but the competition was minimal at the races I won. The new 5K stroller PR is 23:00, also a small local race.

Family photo op at the Denver Rock N Roll Half Marathon. I PR'd with 1:37:49, but that was only good enough for 25th in my age group! Of over 9000 half marathoners, 1257 were women age 25-29. Mike ran 1:20:59, good for 3rd in his age category.

Cuties.

Flashback to one year ago. Times really does fly.

Tahoe Rim Trail 100

2010-07-20T13:39:00.015-06:00

Finally a blog post, I needed something good to motivate me to write. Also, Mike's iPhone has allowed us to do all of our internet stuff while driving down the road instead of needing to stop at coffee shops to use our computers. Hence, we have not blogged a single time!

Short synopsis of the 2 months since my previous post:

Selah is walking. I have been training for my 100 mile race. Mike, Selah, and I headed out on our 6th annual summer roadtrip June 8th and have been to Yosemite, Lassen, Redwoods, Oregon Coast, Crater Lake, Seattle (Mike ran the Rock 'n Roll 1/2 marathon), Tahoe, and now Iowa. We have kept ourselves busy running, climbing, biking, visiting friends and family, and generally having a great time. We truly appreciate the fact that we have the opportunity to spend so much quality time with the people we love.

Selah spent her summer as any kid should: dirty and outside.

My training for Tahoe has really been years in the making, but most notably I did a 50 miler in May and a road marathon two weeks before the race. A quick note on the marathon...I was trying to use it as a training run, but just can't help but get competitive once that starting line gun goes off. It was a fast and flat marathon and I ended up doing the first half in 1:35, a little fast for me. There was an out and back from miles 5 to 18, so I could see that I was in 3rd place. Instead of being smart and just keeping steady, I decided to start surging to maintain my place. I paid for it later and had a slower second half for a finishing time of 3:24:17 (7:47 pace) and 8th woman of 190. A 6 minute PR, not too shabby.

Between the marathon and Tahoe, I ran only twice and did a few days of hiking. I think the rest was just what I needed, both physically and mentally. I tried not to think about the race and was able to sleep well and eat normally. When I think about racing too much, I tend to have a hard time eating and sleeping, so that was good for me.

Wes and Stef arrived a few days early, so we backpacked into the Incredible Hulk to climb and hang out.

My parents, brother and sister-in-law, and us all arrived in Tahoe on Monday, 6 days before the race. We rented a big condo and had wonderful family time full of laughter, conversation, hiking, lake time, climbing, and lots of food and beer.

We spent a day climbing at Lover's Leap. Here's dad on a steep and exposed pitch.

Found a natural waterslide at the end of the day. So nice!

Selah and Grandma playing by the lake.

Friday was the pre-race meeting in Carson City and Wes joined me for the drive. I shyly raised my hand when they asked who was running their first 100 and looked around to see just a few other hands up. They warned us about the heat (mid to high 80's), a large aggressive bear, and the strenuous new course that added about 4,000 feet of vertical. They weighed us and checked our blood pressure (I was a bit hypertensive with the nerves, 133/80). They put wrist bands on us with our pre-race weights and 3%, 5%, and 7% changes both up and down. If any racer was to lose or gain 7% of their weight, they had to sit at that aid station and attempt to get back to normal through hydration, etc. I dropped off a single drop bag and then we headed back to the condo for a spaghetti feast and some rest.

For those of you that are interested, here is what I had in my drop bag. Note that we went through this aid station a total of 6 times on the course and that my crew was at 3 other points on the course.

spray on sunscreen (it's easier to spray over very dirty skin)
baby wipes (SO NICE! I washed my face a few times, as well as other tender areas and I would highly recommend having these available)
headlamp and batteries
4 peanut butter and banana wraps and a few pieces of homemade pizza (I ate only half of one wrap and 1 piece of pizza, they made me sick to my stomach)
electrolyte caps
ibuprofen
caffeine pills (didn't use them)
blister kit with bandaids, moleskin, skin glue, tape, topical lidocaine
two long underwear tops
5 king size Snicker bars (ate most of them)
spare water bottle

I had the following items for my crew to have ready for me at check points:

shoes borrowed from El 1/2 size larger than mine
spare shorts, sports bra, and top (didn't use them)
extra socks (changed into new shoes and socks at mile 50)
super lightweight windbreaker
food

Thankfully, I was able to go to sleep around 9:30 Friday night in preparation for my 3:30 am alarm and 5:00 race start. Selah woke up a couple of times during the night, but otherwise I slept pretty well. I had the coffee pot ready to go the night before, so walked upstairs and turned it on and got dressed for the day. Even at 4:00, when we left the condo, it was already warm enough for just shorts and a T-Shirt. It was going to be a hot day.

Mike drove me to Spooner Lake State Park, the start/finish and 50 mile turnaround. Runners were milling about everywhere and everyone was getting excited. The race volunteers all wore bathrobes, slippers, and curlers in their hair, perfect for lightening the mood. We milled down to the start area and I found another woman that had raised her hand the day before. Off we went into the dark for the start of 100 miles! So anticlimactic, really, as we all started off by walking.

It was 6 miles and a 1500 foot climb to the first aid station above the beautiful Marlette Lake and I took it really easy, running any downhill, walking even the slightest uphill and running some of the flat. I talked to all kinds of people that I would see throughout the long day. From Hobart aid station, we got onto single track and weaved around the west side of Marlette and Harlan Peaks, then had a nice drop into Tunnel Creek aid station at mile 11. A quick weight check and some food in, and off we went on the notorious Red House Loop, a 6.5 mile lollipop type loop that ends back at Tunnel Creek. I was feeling great, so I booked it on the steep downhill to the Red House and power hiked back out, passing many people. To this Colorado girl, a 1200 foot climb in 1.5 miles wasn't as strenuous as they had warned. The only thing slowing me down was that I seemed to have to pee every couple miles.

From Tunnel Creek, the course took us north again towards Diamond Peak ski area. It was flat and rolling for about 8 miles, then 5 miles of downhill to the 30 mile aid station. I felt amazing and ran those 13 miles in just over 2 hours, fast enough for my family to show up 30 minutes after I had left the AS (they were watching live updates online). I think it was a mistake to go so fast, and I paid for it later. I must admit, I was pretty sad and disappointed when I showed up and had no cheering section waiting for me, but I decided I had to get over it and move on. I couldn't let my emotions get me down. Fortunately, Olga caught up to me at the aid station and we were able to climb the steep ski area out of there together, power hiking past guys like they were standing still. We both have some buns of steel to get us up those steep climbs! She was so wonderful to talk to! What an inspiration, with many many many ultras under her belt, a constant smile, and a charming Russian accent. At the top of the ski area, I took a little break in the shade and she took off ahead. She almost went off course at an unmarked turn, but this rookie had pored over the map for enough hours to memorize the course. Thankfully, I turned her around. (A few other runners weren't so lucky: the second place female came roaring past me at mile 40, stating she had gotten lost for 6 miles at that turn, and ended up DNFing in frustration).

From the top of Diamond Peak, the course heads back south to Tunnel Creek, back around Harlan and Marlette Peaks to Hobart Aid station, and then splits slightly east to the top of Snow Valley Peak, mile 42 and the high point of the course (9200'). I was feeling really strong at the top of the peak, had no blisters, had no GI issues, not even a sore muscle. As I left the AS tent, I looked right and heard "Boo!" and found my dad standing there! He had hiked up to meet me and run to the turnaround with me. What a morale boost!! I was so excited and just started talking his ear off, telling him how great I was feeling and how happy I was. In fact, I was feeling so great that he couldn't keep up with me and we were only together for about 1/2 mile. It's funny how an ultra is such an extreme emotional roller coaster, because by the time I got to the bottom of the descent to Spooner Lake, I had nearly talked myself into quitting at 50 miles. I wanted to sit on a rock and wait for my dad and was secretly wishing for some pain somewhere so I could have an excuse to stop.

Well, no such luck. I still had no pain at mile 50 and my brother was practically doing cartwheels in excitement to go back out for another loop with me. I couldn't stop or he would be too sad...so I went out again after 30 minutes of eating, changing shoes, and having Mike wash and doctor up a few hot spots on my feet. Wes and I left the turnaround at 6:00pm, 13 hours after starting the race, 50 miles and 12,000 feet of climbing down, 50 and 12,000 feet to go.

The climb back to Hobart was fairly uneventful, except that Wes was jumping around, hooting, yelling, and generally having more fun than I had ever seen. We left Hobart just before sunset and headed into the open above Lake Tahoe into one of the most fantastic views I have ever witnessed ever ever ever. Alpine glow on Marlette Peak, Lake Tahoe, Marlette Lake, a field of Arrow-leafed Balsam Root, Lupine, Indian Paintbrush, Cinquefoil, Pentstemmon....OMG!! I had just run about 57 miles and was back on top of the world. Wes and I headed toward Tunnel Creek (by the way, we saw the first 100 miler heading back to the finish here, he was nearly 30 miles ahead of us!) and we were RUNNING!! We averaged about 9:00 pace through the rocks in the dark and arrived at Tunnel Creek to find Olga, who had unfortunately decided to DNF. We left Tunnel Creek towards the Red House with rocket fuel in our veins (remember that roller coaster analogy?).

The Red House Loop has gained the reputation as "a taste of Hell". I didn't think it was bad at all the first time around, but it seemed interminable the second time! By the time Wes and I arrived at the bottom of the loop, I had a couple of very sore blisters and started feeling really tired. I basically could not get the energy to run and just walked all the way back to Tunnel Creek. I sat at Tunnel for a while, weighed in (I was peeing literally every 20 minutes or so but had not lost any weight), and left the AS walking at 11:45pm. We ended up walking the next 13 miles, the longest 13 miles EVER. I had been warned not to get into a death march, ie run even though it hurts and avoid the urge to keep walking forever. I should have heeded that advice and at least tried to run, but I could not muster any strength. The 13 mile stretch between Tunnel Creek and the bottom of Diamond Peak ski area was probably the hardest thing I have ever done. Wes turned music on for us and just stayed behind me, constantly telling me I was doing great and trying to encourage me. I remembered a couple of significant turns and kept waiting for them to arrive, but we just seemed to never get there. What had taken me 2 hours on the previous lap took 4:20 the second time. I essentially gave up, quit eating and drinking, and decided to quit as soon as we got to Diamond Peak. I could only imagine crawling into the bed in back of the van and having Mike drive me back to the condo while I slept. I only wanted to sleep, it completely consumed my thoughts. Several times, I sat down on rocks and begged Wes to run down and get Mike to come carry me to the van. I was done. Completely depleted. Over it. Thought it absolutely impossible to go out for another 20 miles. Pissed off. This is the stupidest thing I have ever done. I will never ever do this again and I don't care what anyone thinks. And on and on, you get the picture.

Well, the turns did eventually arrive and I actually did eventually make it to the ski area and immediately crawled into the van to go to sleep as planned. Mike, on the other hand, had been warned by me for months that I would try to do this and his job was to not let me do it. "This is different, you don't understand! I really am done! Quit being such an asshole and let me go to sleep!". Well, darn, he wouldn't listen and made me get out of the van "for a med check, I think you should get weighed to make sure everything is ok". He was totally working me. He wrapped me up in a blanket and helped me walk to the officials, whom I told I was quitting. Mike: "No, no, no, let's just go rest in the lodge for a bit". Me: "No, I'm quitting, you're such an asshole, why won't you let me sleep?! We went into the lodge, he made me eat some chicken soup and I fell asleep sitting up in the chair.

When Mike went to the bathroom, I sneaked back to the van and crawled into bed, ignoring Wes' pleas to have me try again. I dozed on and off between Mike and Wes trying to get me to eat and drink, and eventually the sun came back up. Then Mike pulled out the big guns, he called Sari, my uber tough Primal Quest winning friend. She knows what blisters feel like. She knows what exhausted feels like. She also knows what persevering through it feels like and what success at the end feels like. She told me to put on a new pair of shoes and "just try walking, just a little bit, just try" and I barely got out the words "I'll think about it" between sobs. Then Mike started gyrating his hips to "Freaky Girl" in front of me, claiming I was really going to miss out if I missed his special playlist.

I tried not to laugh, cuz gosh darnit, I was determined to stay mad. But I laughed. And then I put on a different pair of shoes. And then I walked across the parking lot. And then I tried, just a little bit. Wes was still on fire and amped beyond belief, so he decided to stay with me and Mike instead of having Mike take his place.

Heading back out at mile 80.

As I walked out of the AS and up that ski area, Mike and Wes yelled and clapped and jumped up and down in excitement. By that time, it was 7:15 am, 15 minutes before the cutoff. We were the last people to leave and we started passing people within about 10 minutes of starting. By the time we topped the peak, my blister-induced limp had stopped and I was running again. We passed another party just before Tunnel Creek and kept running. We passed 6 or so more runners by Hobart and kept going.

Mike kept yelling "Bone Crusher Joy!"

We hiked and laughed and started having fun and got to Snow Valley Peak aid station, mile 93 and all downhill to the finish. It was then that I realized I was actually going to finish this race. We ran almost the entire way to the end, passing another several runners in the process, and ended up with just over 6 hours for the 20 miles, the same pace I had done it on the first loop.

I crossed the finish line in 32:19, 11th out of 13 finishing females and 47th of 60 finishers overall. 57 of 117 had DNF'd. I persevered. Then I drank a well-deserved beer.

My award. I will now start wearing a belt.

There is absolutely no way I would have succeeded without my mom helping me get prepped, my parents and Stef watching Selah, Wes indomitable spirit for 50 miles, Mike's excitement. This was a family affair.

Will I do it again? Yesterday I said absolutely not. Today I say probably not. Tomorrow, who knows. I truly think that marathons and 50s are more my thing, but i guess we'll just have to see.

What I learned:

Sitting still for a few minutes at every aid station to eat, drink, and recover was a good idea. When I blazed through, I paid for it later. When I took the time to rest, I felt energized.
Eat and drink constantly. I drank about 8 gallons of water through the course. I ate a few king-size snickers, several chicken and avocado burritos, a piece of pizza, a few cheese sticks, lots of chips, a couple of ham sandwiches, a grilled cheese sandwich, a breakfast burrito, loads of watermelon and canteloupe, a few small smoothies, a peach, a few cups of soup, M&M's, jelly beans, half of a gel (made me gag) and lots more that I can't remember right now.
Sugary electrolyte drink almost always makes me nauseous. I tried in the beginning and it had the same affect, so I took electrolyte caps every hour with water.
Sometimes it takes 3 hours and lots of encouragement to get moving again, but once you just get moving, you feel better than you think you will. Make sure you have your crew prepared to talk you into things you don't want to do.

If you're still reading, I'm impressed~!

Playtime

2010-05-16T10:04:00.003-06:00

Selah loves the phone:

Playing at the park

2010-05-16T08:49:00.004-06:00

Video of Selah at the park. She loves going down the slide.

She loves the spiral slide but she goes so fast I can hardly get my camera on in time.

2010-05-04T13:49:00.002-06:00

Some fun video of Selah talking to Grandma Marge on Skype.

Selah Loves Hiking

2010-04-26T20:53:00.005-06:00

Out for a hike with Selah while Mike ran. She loves being in her backpack and took a long nap and then snacked on a bar.

Desert RATS 25 mile race report

2010-04-26T20:53:00.004-06:00

The short version:

Felt a little slow in the beginning, got stronger as the race went on, a course personal best of 4:20:33, a PR by 18 minutes, finished 4th woman overall and felt incredible at the end, was literally jumping up and down with excitement. Happy girl.

The long version:

This was my 4th Desert RATS ('06, '07, '08, watched in 2009, '10) and I came with a single goal: PR. My previous times were 4:49, 4:45, and 4:38. This is a very technical and hilly course, so those times actually landed me in the top 10 every year. I opted against wearing a watch and figured I'd just do my best and ask other racers if I was ever curious about the time. As race week approached, I was able to get out for several 2 hour runs and a couple of 3 hour runs, not ideal, but apparently sufficient training. Considering I planned on using this race as "training" for the upcoming 50 and 100 milers, I felt I had been a little lax in my preparation. Welcome to the world of baby and full time job!

El, Bobby Lowe, Mike, and I all planned on getting out of town Friday afternoon for the 2 hour drive to Fruita for the prerace meeting. As these things always go, we finally left at 6:30, about 30 minutes before packet pickup closed. Thankfully they allowed race day pickup so we were able to relax, eat, and have a pleasant drive to the campsite. We pulled into camp at dark, El set her tent up, Bobby realized he forgot his, and Mike and I arranged the van for sleep. This was going to be our first night sleeping in the van with Selah since last summer, when she couldn't really even roll over. Van sleeping with a 4 month old is quite different than with a 12 month old. There is a little cubby that we made for her at our feet, but she can stand up and look at us whenever she feels like it. She was overtired and screaming as we tried putting her down, but she eventually fell asleep for a few hours. She woke up sometime in the middle of the night and banged her head on the metal van wall (no bumper yet, but we'll make one before the next trip for sure), which sent her into another crying fit. She ended up snuggling between me and Mike in the twin-sized van bed. Cozy. It didn't really matter that I hardly slept that night, as I can never really sleep before races and they say it doesn't affect race performance. What is more important is proper sleep in the days leading up to the race, not the night before.

4:45 came around fast and I got up to make coffee, eat a bagel, and rouse El and Bobby. We were in the car by 5:20 on our way to the starting line and 6:30 race start. Why do races here insist on starting so dang early? As always, I skipped the warm up and instead took care of vital functions and got in a little stretching and fluids. At 6:30, we were off! The first mile is on a flat gravel road before the race heads up it's initial steep climb on rocky single track. I've learned through the years to run that first mile fast or get stuck behind someone that can't skip through rocks. I arrived at the first aid station, mile 6, in about 54 minutes, 3 minutes ahead of my old PR split. I was happy with this but my legs were feeling tight and heavy in the cold air and I didn't think I could maintain the pace. There is another long climb after the station, so I slowed down and walked some of the steeper parts. El caught up with me and we proceeded ahead together, she helping me to keep my pace up. By the time we got to the second aid station, she passed me and slowly started to pull ahead. Between aid stations 2 and 3, the course profile flattens and the surface becomes more even--El's specialty. She cruised ahead and was out of sight by the half way point. This is the most beautiful part of the race. The course winds in and out on top of 200 foot tall sheer sandstone cliffs above the Colorado River amid bursts of Indian Paintbrush and Juniper.

After finishing the fast first mile, heading onto the first climb and single track.

I arrived to the 3rd aid station, 12.5 miles, at around 2 hours feeling fresh and loose and enjoying the warming air. At this point, I was confident I could PR unless something really unexpected happened. With a previous PR of 4:38, I would have to slow down a LOT to miss my goal. The race gets technical and hilly again there and stays so for the majority of the remaining course. I got into a nice rhythm and started picking people off as I completed the 7 miles to the final aid station.

El and Ashley coming into the final aid station at mile 19.5.

I came into the aid station just behind another woman but left before her and never looked back. There is a heinous 700' climb that begins near mile 20 and I ran nearly the entire thing, really out of fear the woman behind would catch back up. Passing her gave me a confidence and energy boost and I was able to overtake several men on the long climb. I also knew that once I topped out, it was all downhill to the finish.

Sneaking out of the last aid station ahead of the woman that beat me to it.

Racing downhill through the rocks is what I am best at, so I knew if I could stay ahead of the woman I had passed (and another I saw creeping up), it was very doubtful they could catch me on the downhill. My legs and lungs felt amazing through this section and I flew through the last several miles. At the end of the trail section, just before the race turns onto the road, Mike was waiting for me and told me another friend, Ashley Arnold, was just ahead. I hauled down the final steep descent and got within about 50 feet of her on the road. I think I ran that last mile in about 7 minutes trying to catch her, but she heard me behind and put all she had into it, which was just a little more than me. I crossed the finish line 30 seconds behind her, 4th woman finisher (dare I say that 4 50-mile women beat me to the turnaround?), and with an 18 minute personal record and just 3 minutes out of 2nd place (El was 2nd!). I was so excited to have finished well that I was literally jumping up and down and seriously considered heading out for another lap. Not that it matters, but all of the racers with GPS's said that the race was actually just over 26 miles, not 25.

The race gave me a much needed confidence boost for this weekends 50 miler, Collegiate Peaks Trail Run. The only thing that hurt post race was an old ankle injury--no IT band pain, no blisters, no GI upset, hardly a sore muscle. I was even able to get out for a 2 hour run on the course Sunday morning for a little bonus training. Definitely a great weekend! If you're still reading, I'm impressed.

Now I'm laying on the couch with an ice pack on my right quad. Somehow, I strained it while hiking today and am really hoping it doesn't give me any trouble this weekend. Wish me luck!

______________________________________________

And for the grandmas:

Yeah, she's awesome.

We planted raspberries and blueberries this weekend! They looked pretty good until the deer got to them last night. Now we just have stubs.

On our hike today.

Weekend Video

2010-04-18T21:41:00.004-06:00

My Weekend by Selah

2010-04-18T20:28:00.007-06:00

I just got home from a great weekend with my parents. We went to Fruita so mommy could run the Desert RATS 25 miler. It all started on Friday…

I rode in the van with daddy and our friend Bobby Lowe while mom rode in a car with our friend Elinor Fish. The hour and 15 minute ride was okay but I wasn’t too fond of being in the car seat for a nap until Bobby rocked me to sleep. When I woke up we were in Grand Junction, home of Genghis Grill, one of daddy and mommy’s favorite pre-race restaurants. I loved all the veggies and the crunchy Chow Mein noodle things.

Playing with a tube of lotion. Daddy accidentally sprayed a stream of it across my face and into my hair. That's okay, it gave me a mohawk.

That night we stayed at Highline State Park where I slept in the van for the first time since last summer. I love playing in the van. We played for a while and read books under the Christmas lights that are strung up in the van. It was a little hard for me to get to sleep, probably because it was way past my bedtime and because I was sleeping in a very different place. I used to always sleep in the Moses basket when in the van but this time daddy set up the back of the van with an inflatable pad, sleeping bag and down jackets. It was kind of weird and I kept making a lot of noise because the van has metal walls so every time I would get upset I would cry loud, hit the metal door and it would sound like mommy and daddy were bad parents and beating me. After a little while, I eventually gave in and went to sleep.

In the morning, mommy got up early and went to the race for the 6:30 start time. In the middle of the night mommy had brought me in bed with her and daddy so I started to notice that her warm body was gone from the bed. I like to move around in bed a lot and I kept grabbing daddy’s face and kicking him. He tried to move so I wouldn’t fall off the bed and instead it woke me up. He tried hard to get me to go back to bed because it was only 5:45 but I was just so excited to play in the van. So, we left and rushed off to the race.

Taking a break while waiting for mom to run by.

There's my mom, running about 1-1/2 hours into the race.

Cool views, huh?

Mommy did great in the race and daddy and I met her at every aid station and at other spots along the race and saw her 6 times. Daddy put me in the Chariot and pulled me with his mountain bike. We rode along the bumpy, old 4x4 roads to get glimpses of mommy, Bobby and El and to cheer them on. It was fun to see mommy race. One of my new, really cute things, is to point and say mommy or daddy’s name when I see them in the distance. I did that a couple of times for mommy. I think it made her happy.

More pictures of my mom running - yeah!

Mommy ended up finishing as the 4th overall woman and beat her best time in the race by 18 minutes. She was just 3 minutes out of 2nd and daddy and I were really proud of her. After the race I got to drink out of mommy’s water bottle (another new favorite thing) and eat post-race snacks like cookies and bananas.

A picture my dad took while climbing back to the canyon rim. Mom wouldn't let me play close to the edge - so, don't worry grandmas!

After the race, mommy and I were tired from all that work so we drove into Colorado National Monument with daddy so he could go rock climbing. While he climbed, we napped in the van although a ranger almost woke me up. Luckily, mommy was able to shoo him away. After napping we went over to the edge of the canyon rim and looked down at daddy on top of the tower. It was pretty neat to see daddy climbing. After he finished we dropped him off for a 6-mile trail run and then picked him up at the finish. Mommy and I hiked in a short way to greet daddy and I did my really cute pointing thing and called his name.

For dinner we ate at a great mom-and-pop burger place. Mommy said she earned a cheeseburger and I think I earned my grilled cheese. I ate a lot of it. That night we camped up by Rattlesnake Canyon, above Colorado National Monument. I slept really sound all night because I was so tired from all the playing and biking and fun I had.

Of course, I woke up kind of early because the sun was starting to come up. It was only about 6:00 but mommy and daddy kind of wanted to keep sleeping so they let me climb around in the van and play. Eventually I convinced them to get up and start the day because as John Wayne would say, “daylight’s a wastin’,” even if it wasn’t truly daylight yet. Well, mommy wasn’t too excited about hiking/running Rattlesnake Canyon so early so she convinced daddy to go get pancakes instead. I said, “sweet, I love pancakes!”

Pancakes, yeah!

After breakfast I was ready for a nap because I ate so many pancakes and hash browns. So, mommy and I napped at the Kokopelli trailhead while daddy rode his mountain bike for 2-1/2 hours. When he got back, mommy was ready to go run so daddy took me in the Chariot behind his mountain bike and we showed mommy what we could do on the trails. It was really fun. We rode with mommy for a couple of miles before she split off and went on her own long run. Well, with all that action, I got really tired again and fell asleep in the Chariot while daddy was riding back to the van.

Playing in the van

When I woke up, daddy was reading a book under a tree where he had me napping in the shade. Oh, what a great nap. Daddy loaded me up in the van and we drove to where we met mommy at the end of the run. While waiting, daddy and I played in the van. We played hide and seek with my toys and I climbed all over the van. Plus, I ate a lot of trail mix. It’s one of my new favorite things. I love the peanuts and raisins and occasionally, if daddy hasn’t eaten all of them, M&M’s. Yum! I also love drinking water out of a hydration bladder although I also like to just play with it and get water all over me. Hence, why I was naked, except for a diaper, when mommy showed up from her run.I think I found some M&M's in the trail mix and now the chocolate is on my face - I'm so goofy!

Well, we decided to leave Fruita early to get back for my friend Zachary’s BBQ. On the way home, mommy and daddy bought me a present, my very own pink Camelbak. Now I have my own bite valve to chew on and get water out of. They used their REI dividend to buy it so I could have my own Camelbak to carry, that is, whenever I decide to start walking.

My new Camelbak - I can't wait for dad to take the plastic off the water hose so I can chew on the bite valve.

Before heading home daddy needed some caffeine so we went through the drive thru at Starbuck’s and got cold drinks. Mommy let me have some of her fruit smoothie and I figured out how to drink out of a straw for the first time. It was great, until it gave me a brain freeze headache. But, I didn’t really care, I was so excited to be drinking out of a straw so I kept sucking away.

Now, it’s on to a BBQ and kiddy pool session at Zachary’s where I’ll be much rested after a long nap on the ride home. What a great weekend. I can’t wait to go to Fruita again to play in the dirt and I can’t wait to go camping in the van again. I love playing in it and climbing around on the shelves. Sounds like I’ll get plenty of van time in this summer because we’re going to be on the road for 10 weeks. Yeah!

That’s all for now. See ya!

Selah's "Wake Up Call"

2010-04-13T20:01:00.002-06:00

Recently, Selah has been waking up from a night's sleep or a nap not with a scream or a cry but the pounding of a picture frame against the wall. This afternoon I didn't hear a peep until I heard the steady beat emanating from her room. She busied herself with quiet play for several minutes before I went in, camera in hand. My mom will love the sight of her hugging the baby doll she gave Selah on her 1st birthday. Then, I prompted her to repeat her "wake up call" for everyone to see.

2010-04-12T16:41:00.004-06:00

By popular demand (grandmas!) here are some fun videos of the little one:

Birthday Cake

2010-04-04T19:37:00.003-06:00

Long before Joy and I talked about having kids, I had envisioned and looked forward to the day that I'd get to see my little 1-year old dig their mitts into their first birthday cake. Yesterday was the big day but it was a little disappointing, as you can see. She seemed more interested in the plate than the frosting.

Old Selah Videos

2010-04-04T07:29:00.005-06:00

Yesterday was Selah's first birthday and we had a pretty raging party as far as kid parties go. More on that later but first, my mom and I were looking at old Selah videos from last summer before we went to bed last night. We were amazed at how much she has grown and how much of her personality you can see in those early videos. So, here's some old Selah stuff:

I don't know if we ever showed this video to anyone, out of fear that people would think we were bad parents, giving our kid sugar at an early age. During the summer we often take ice cream/snack breaks in the afternoon and one day I bought a couple gummy worms, which turned out to be the perfect thing for Selah to suck on.

Here's some video of us climbing in the Tuolumne area of Yosemite National Park, right around when Selah turned 3 months.

More video of Selah at about 3 months old during our time in California. Here she's just talking and being cute, what else does she do?

Pictures :)

2010-03-25T21:00:00.004-06:00

Grandaddy has been reading to Selah every night since daddy can't be here.

Even though S braved a 15 mile hike in the backpack yesterday, she still had a smile on her face for today's backpack ride.

If you look closely, you should see a praying mantis oriented vertically and facing right. We came upon this 5 inch long insect on our hike today and she was beautiful!

2010-03-24T23:07:00.004-06:00

Selah gets in and out and in and out and in and out of the pool. She gets in just far enough to touch her toes to the water, then gets out again. It is hilarious to watch.

Exploring the shower....

Mom, give me back that bar of soap, I really wanted to eat that!

She seems a little talkative and has a "strong voice". Wonder where she gets that.

Kapalua Bay

2010-03-22T21:08:00.004-06:00

Today: 10 mile run while my parents so graciously took turns carrying Selah on their hike, lunch in the coolest local restaurant EVER, snorkeling in Kapalua bay, and now sitting outside watching Selah crawl around and updating my blog. It's been nice day :)

Selah finally warmed up to the idea of going into the water. She has been pretty afraid of it until now.

For Daddy

2010-03-21T23:38:00.004-06:00

Dear Daddy,
I miss you here in Hawaii, but I sure am having lots of fun. Today, I went to the beach in the morning and played in the sand while mommy and Grandpa went snorkeling. Grandma let me eat sticks and sand and I smiled at everyone around us. I got pretty tired from crawling around in the sand and rocks, so mommy decided to take me home for lunch and a nap. I ate lots of food and slept for two hours! Even after that big lunch, I woke up really hungry and kept trying to tell mommy what was wrong but she couldn't figure it out. Once she gave me food, though, I was happy again and we went and played in the pool. I showed all of the neighbors how I can crawl in and out of the pool and I let mommy swim around with her hands under my belly so I could kick. Mommy didn't make me wear my bikini top and it sure felt good. After the swimming, I wanted to go crawl around outside, so mommy took me to the lawn. I crawled and crawled and then I remembered that there were stairs at the edge of the lawn, so I headed over there as fast as I could. I bet I did stairs for about an hour. Then I took a little rest and then I did stairs again while everyone else watched the sunset and looked for whales. I was so tired after all those stairs! I ate the biggest meal I think I have ever eaten and fell asleep in about 5 minutes. Mommy thought you might want to see some pictures of me from today, so here they are. Love you!

Here I am at the top of the stairs. I stole the show and everyone thought I was so cute going up and down and up and down.

I finally let Grandaddy love on me and give me hugs and kisses. I'm still pretty afraid of other gray-haired men, though, and I cried really hard today when one talked to me.

2010-03-21T13:26:00.006-06:00

We bought Ahi Sashimi last night and made more sushi than we could eat--and it was delicious! We made 7 rolls and had fish leftover that we blackened and ate plain. Yum. Dad had never rolled sushi before and he got really into it.

If you look closely,you can see mom and dad hiding behind the roots of this massive baobab tree. We hiked about 14 miles yesterday on the Kapalua/Mahena ridge trail and my sweet Selah never fussed in the backpack.

Beach time!

Day 3 in HI

2010-03-19T01:00:00.006-06:00

Today was a big day in Hawaii. Sleeping, breakfast, morning nap (Selah), snorkeling, beach picnic, afternoon pool time, wine/sunset time, shrimp dinner, now blogging. Whew! I am so tired :)

S didn't realize she had a flower behind her ear, so I had dad take some photos.

Trying to make her smile for said photos...

Checking out the Hibiscus.

Playing on the beach with Grandma.

Too cute after eating sand. She loves this place. It is just awesome to let her go wild outside, there is nothing she can't get in to or eat or break, she is just free.

Today's post for Mikey

2010-03-18T01:21:00.003-06:00

That's a smashed tomato on her forehead, not blood. She ate dinner on the lawn tonight.

We hiked up Waihee Ridge Trail this afternoon. Check out the beautiful mist in the peaks behind us.

How S spent most of the hike :)

And the rest she spent like this.

2010-03-17T13:05:00.004-06:00

Since Mike can't be here, he asked for a blog update each day. Here you go, babe!

Selah with her new friend Fin from next door. Fin is 2 and has a baby brother on the way. She loves Selah!

Grandma loves.

Grandpa loves.

35 years together and looking good!

Hawaii time

2010-03-15T23:41:00.006-06:00

Selah and I are in Maui with my parents! For two weeks! Arrived last night and the 7 hour plane ride with an 11 month old was only slightly heinous. We started off in Aspen, where our flight was delayed by over an hour. Selah was happy despite not getting her morning nap. The delay got us to Denver with only a few minutes to get to our next flight. I had the diaper bag ready and Selah in the Ergo before the seatbelt light was off, and it's a good thing! I ran with her head a-bobbing and made it to the flight right as they were closing the doors. I was the last person on board and didn't care that my luggage would probably stay in Denver (it did) because I was going to Hawaii! The first thing I noticed when getting to my seat (3 rows from the back and everyone else was already seated) was that the woman next to me was wearing a Hawkeyes shirt. "You're from Iowa? Nice!" I knew I had friendly row-mates, a necessity for a transoceanic flight with an infant. It turned out that she and her husband had 3 kids including a 10 month old, all home with grandma, so they were very understanding. Selah did very well considering that she had to sit on my lap for over 7 hours on that flight alone, and that we traveled for about 12. But by the end of the trip, she was D.O.N.E. and screamed while I waiting in vain for my luggage to arrive. I never know what to say to the onlookers who think a.) you really should shut your kid up, geez, there are other people around, or b.) what have you done to make your kid so pissed, or c.) want to help in some way. She's a baby. Babies cry and it's just okay. Thankfully, the kid stayed up late enough to make the 4 hour time change and was normal and happy today.

Sweet Selah in her new sun hat.

Nudie beach time. She loved the sand but wasn't too sure about the water (a little cold and she's not used to the waves).

Mom and I trying to get her lifevest/swimsuit thing on.

Chilling out at the condo this morning. Dad took me on a nice walk early today to show me the scene of his rescue two days ago. He was out snorkeling and came upon a young couple that had been caught in a current without fins. They were in the process of getting sucked out to sea and the man had essentially rolled over and given up. The guy weighed over 200 pounds and dad managed to drag him back to shore and then went back for his wife.

Race Day

2010-03-13T15:00:00.005-07:00

Mike, Selah, and I all raced this morning at America's Uphill, a 3267' climb over 2.5 miles from the bottom of Aspen Mountain to the top. With a 7am start, we woke up at 4:30 to make the drive. Caffeine is a beautiful thing. Mike ran a very respectable 52:42, taking 14th place in a very competitive field. I carried Selah in the Ergo and made the ascent in 1:14, good enough for 29th woman and 5th in my age group. It was so steep that I did not run a single step. The winner, Ricky Gates, ran an impressive course record in 40:26 and was apparently the only person to run the entire race. I decided to race last night and wasn't even sure they would let me with a baby on my back. Since Selah and I leave for Maui tomorrow morning, I wanted to be nice and sore for the day of sitting on the airplane. When I asked this morning if I could race with her, they shrugged their shoulders and said, "I guess so", so I went for it! Selah was bouncing, squealing, and laughing in my ears at the start, excited about all of the people and action. But the early morning caught up to her fast and she decided to take a snooze for the second half of the race. Fun day! Too bad I forgot to bring the Iphone for pictures!

I ended up having a pretty good week of training. Last week was absolutely crazy busy at work and I ran a total of about 8 miles the entire week. It left me feeling a bit stiff and slow at the beginning of this week, but I feel back to normal now. I am terrible about keeping a training log, but here is what I think I did:

Sunday: 20 miles with El and Ashley (they pushed the pace and it was HARD!)
Monday: rest
Tuesday: 7.5 miles, felt pretty slo
Wednesday: 6.5 miles in the morning easy, 7.5 miles fast in the evening
Thursday: hiked Red Mountain with Sari (who is 36 weeks pregnant AND was carrying her 2 1/2 year old)
Friday: 7 miles with El, felt fast, 10 mile bike ride with Mike and Selah
Saturday: Race, America's Uphill

for a total of about 56 miles, right on track for where I should be with my upcoming racing schedule. My weakness? I have yet to do a situp since having Selah and my core is still very floppy. The problem is that I DESPISE doing core work... I might just deal with floppy abs.

Bananas

2010-03-13T14:10:00.005-07:00

Selah loves bananas. Yesterday we went out on a beautiful bike ride and went to the grocery store on the way home. When we got home and opened up the Chariot I discovered that Selah had taken one of the bananas purchased at the store, bitten into it and started eating it. It was pretty funny. Joy and I have both noticed how Selah loves to eat the peel as much as she likes to eat the actual banana.

Selah Swinging

2010-03-12T15:59:00.003-07:00

I built a swing for Selah at the end of last fall and just recently Selah has begun to be able to use it. I helped by shoveling some snow out of the yard to help speed up the melting. Here's Selah, enjoying her swing:

Selah playing with blocks

2010-03-12T14:51:00.003-07:00

She loves the Mega Blocks that we got for her:

2010-03-06T19:00:00.005-07:00

Taking pictures of the girl is like trying to get dog treats out in front of a labrador. She crawls FAST and wants whatever is in my hands RIGHT NOW. Therefore, most of my picture progressions look like this:

In an effort to get a shot of her new bikini (we're getting ready for HAWAII!!), I distracted her with the phone and took a picture of her from behind:

Getting started early.

My Afternoon with Daddy

2010-03-04T20:35:00.003-07:00

by Selah

I am so lucky to have a daddy that works part-time. Every day we get to play, play, play when he gets home from work. Typically daddy gets home around noon and we eat lunch and play before my afternoon nap. Today, daddy got home late because he was getting the car worked on so mommy put me down for my afternoon nap. She loves it when I fall asleep in her arms.

While I was sleeping daddy was working hard on our van. He's been working about an hour every day this week on figuring out why the battery wouldn't charge and installing a battery isolator so we can better run lights and charge stuff like laptops and phones in the van. I love our van and can't wait for our next road trip. It's been a long time since I've slept in it but mommy and daddy keep trying to make plans for a desert trip. I hope we do that soon. Daddy said he would have been done a lot sooner with the project but these stupid GM vans are crammed together and the electrical is way too complicated. Luckily he knows how to read the instructions but I still see him scratching his head a lot.

When I woke up from my nap my daddy was there waiting for me. I always smile when my daddy walks in after my nap and picks me up. I love seeing his face after a good, long nap. He had the car all packed up and ready to go. Once a week daddy goes to school in the afternoon to help kids with schoolwork and he often brings me along. I used to be really shy with the big high school kids but now I love to explore around the school. I can climb up and down the big stairs and I love crawling fast through the hallways and looking at the lockers. When the kids get out of class, daddy makes sure they don't step on me because they sure are tall. I can barely see their faces way up there!

Today daddy shut the door to his classroom because I kept leaving to go through the hallways. He put a sign on the door that said, "Please Come In. Door closed so the baby won't escape!" A lot of the high school kids like to come in and play with me. I don't know if they always get much work done but they love taking turns holding me and playing with me and I like to show off for them. Daddy says I "ham it up" for the kids by showing them how daddy and I play - he throws me in the air, bounces me on his knee like a horse and plays hide-and-seek.

After school we went to the community college for daddy's high school climbing club. Daddy has a bunch of kids that climb every week and they really like it. I like going because I get to "run" around a big gym and climb up and down on the climbing pads. I also like to eat the chalk the climbers use on their hands. Today I took one girl's chalk bag and dug my hand in deep, pulling the chalk out. Then, I put it in my mouth by the handful. Why? Because that's what babies do. Then, daddy tried to clean up all the chalk and he closed the chalk bag so I couldn't get anymore out. That's okay because I just licked it off the floor.

Daddy usually feeds me a snack and today I ate a whole banana and then some of daddy's Clif bar. I was hungry! Daddy brings toys for me but I mostly like to climb on the wall, reach in between the mats and touch the velcro with my fingertips and eat chalk. Oh, did I mention that already? Well, I really like to eat it. I also like to dump out people's chalk bags when they leave them unattended. It's kind of a funny joke but don't tell daddy - I like to pretend I'm just an innocent baby.

After climbing we went home. Mommy was at the hospital with a sick kid from her work so daddy and I got to play some more. I got a neat present the other day - a big bag of Mega Blocks. I like chewing on them, dumping them out and taking apart whatever daddy puts together. My other favorite thing to do right now is to chew on my books. I like to take whole bites out of them and eat it. I don't know why I like it, it's just something babies do I guess.

Daddy made me dinner but before dinner he tried to wash my face. I hate washing my face! Daddy said I looked like a coal miner because my face was all black with dirt from the climbing wall. I don't know what a coal miner is but I don't understand what the big deal is. I mean, God made dirt, so dirt can't hurt, right? For dinner I ate green beans with oatmeal, apple sauce and cheese. One of my latest things is to try to grab the spoon from daddy or mommy when it's full of food and then suddenly release it, spraying food all over the place. I don't really mean to do it but it just happens. I mean, can't a kid just use her own spoon?

After dinner daddy gave me a bath. I love playing with my rubber duckies, boats and a wind-up frog that swims in the tub. I don't like it when daddy tries to wash my face. Did I mention already that I don't like having my face washed? Well, I don't like it! Daddy does a good job of washing me and he likes to play games to trick me into letting him rinse me off. Just when I think he's playing boats with me he fills it up with water and dumps it over my head. Geez, the nerve of that guy! First, he insists on putting soap on me and then he tries to take if off. I tell you what, I just don't understand these adults sometimes.

One of my favorite things is when daddy takes me out of the bath and bundles me up in a fresh towel. It's one of the few times I ever sit still and cuddle with my dad. Daddy always warms up my room with the space heater before my bath is over so when he takes me in my room he lets me crawl around naked and finish drying off. I love being naked and being goofy! Then, he puts lotion all over. He says he wants me to have sweet, baby-soft skin. Then, it's into my pajamas. Tonight he put me in my dinosaur pajamas. Do you know what sound a dinosaur makes? I do: "Roar!" He he, I like that.

Daddy always lets me burn off some energy for bed so we play with toys, crawl around and be goofy. I love giggling. It's one of my new favorite things. Eventually, even I start to get tired so I let daddy read me some books. I love turning the pages and I'm very good at making sure we don't miss any pages. Daddy reads really fast, which is good, because I like turning the pages fast. After a while, I get tired of reading and daddy gives me a bottle. He dims the lights and rocks me while I drink. Daddy loves cuddling up with me in the chair and I love falling asleep in his arms. Sometimes he puts me to bed awake but he often likes to rock me all the way asleep and to keep rocking me for many, many minutes. Mommy told me he catches daddy just sitting there rocking me as I sleep, touching my cheeks, looking at me and feeling my hair. I like it that my daddy loves me so much, it's a pretty sweet thing.

Well, that was my afternoon with my dad. It was a pretty typical afternoon but maybe I'll tell you about other things we do later. Just the other day my daddy cleaned out and filled up the sandbox in the yard so I've been having a great time playing in the sun, feeling the sand in my hands and of course, eating it! Well, more on that later!

Arm Wrasslin

2010-02-28T08:41:00.006-07:00

Yesterday was a great day. It started out right with a long run with El. We planned on running for an hour and a half or so and ended up doing 2 1/2 hours, 17.5 miles, 1800 feet of elevation gain, followed by a steep power hike up a nearby trail. Training training training! I planned on having a nice relaxed evening, early to bed, a couple glasses of wine....then my friend came over and convinced me to go to an arm wrestling tournament that didn't even start until 10:00 (a good 30 minutes past my bedtime). We dressed up and rallied and had a blast. That is the most partying I have done in as long as I can remember. I only made it to round 2, but I was psyched!

My saucy diggs.

Round 2 facing off with Kitty Krusher. I hung on for a long time, but couldn't beat her. There were some really strong ladies in attendance!

Awesomeness.

Catherine ?, Meghan "Phoenix" D, me "Rockin' Rhonda", and Kathleen "Head Huntress" Jones

Selah Videos - Climbing, playing

2010-02-27T13:15:00.005-07:00

Here are some videos of Selah playing. She loves climbing on stuff, including a small rocking chair she has in her room. Today I found her not only standing on the armrests but with a leg up on the back or top of the chair, trying to get into a shelf.

Pictures

2010-02-23T21:24:00.005-07:00

I took Selah in for her well baby check this afternoon and here are her latest stats:
length: 27.5", 25th percentile
weight: 16 lb 9oz, 5th percentile
head: still huge

She is going down in the percentiles but the doc isn't worried at all. She is a busy little bee and just a bit slender. She got an A+ for health today.

Nice hair.

Sunsets are one of the reasons we love this place.

Daddy and his girl.

Mike, S, and Margie on a walk. She left yesterday and we're so sad!

"That's enough recipes...

2010-02-20T08:38:00.006-07:00

I want more pictures of my Selah!" -Grandma Margie

My mom also thought she was going to die with 4 weeks of no Selah pics. Here you go, Grandmas!

Selah and mom at her awesome Christmas party in December.

Stef and I all dressed up.

Selah Claire in her new bike helmet.

Mama loves.

Selah's new teeth in December.

Now she has 6 teeth, this was taken a few days ago.

Grandma Margie is here for the weekend. Yeah!!

Selah Messing Around

2010-02-12T19:47:00.003-07:00

Here's a random Selah video. She loves digging through the drawers and cupboards of our house.

Another yummy recipe

2010-02-10T16:57:00.003-07:00

If you tried the pasta dish I posted last week and have extra arugula around, here is a delicious, simple, and super easy way to use it:

Radicchio Arugula Spaghetti

2/3 box whole wheat spaghetti
1 package Prosciutto, chopped (I added this to the original recipe)
4 T. olive oil
2 T fresh thyme leaves
3 large cloves garlic
1/2 radicchio, thinly sliced
2-3 cups arugula, roughly chopped
juice of 1 lemon
1 c fresh parmesan
salt and pepper to taste

Boil spaghetti according to directions. Save 1 mugful of starchy pasta water for the sauce before you strain the pasta.

While the pasta is cooking, brown the prosciutto, remove from fry pan and set aside. Add olive oil to pan, then add thyme and garlic. Simmer on medium heat until very fragrant, about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, place radicchio and arugula in a large bowl, squeeze in the lemon juice and pasta water and toss. When spices are fragrant, add them to the greens along with the pasta and parmesan. Mix and enjoy.

Running and Race Schedule

2010-02-09T08:46:00.003-07:00

This past weekend was the lottery drawing for entry into the Wasatch 100 mile trail run. There were 272 spots for 383 applicants and I, unfortunately, was not a lucky entrant. That does mean that I am freed from the burden of having to decide which Hundy to do this year, as I had it narrowed down to 2 choices. Tahoe Rim Trail is the winner!

Now I just have to confront my self doubt and believe that I can actually finish the race. I know success is dependent upon my state of mind and that will be my biggest challenge by far as I work toward this goal. Right now, I consider myself pretty out of shape and I have a lot of work ahead. My IT band was inflamed for nearly a month after the Vegas marathon, so I had to take it easy. Workout options in this small town are somewhat limited in the middle of winter: the nearest pool is 30 minutes away (with a full time job and an infant, I don't think so...), biking on the ice is not ideal, I'm too cheap to buy a membership to the one gym in town, and I would rather rub salt in my eyes than ride the bike trainer inside. So, I stuck to running much less than normal, maybe 10-20 miles/week. The last few weeks have been better and I'm now up to my regular 40 miles/week, but it doesn't feel very easy and I haven't done a run longer than 9 miles since the marathon. Alas, it is really okay and I'll be in shape by the time the first race rolls around.

Here is the official race schedule for the year (subject to change, of course):

April 17th, Desert RATS 25 mile: I've done this race 3 times in the past, '06, '07, '08 (I watched with 3 week old Selah in the Bjorn in '09). My goal is break my PR of 4:38.

May 1st, Collegiate Peaks Trail Run 50 mile: This was my first ultra ever in 2007. My goal is to break my 50 mile PR, 10:31.

June 26th, Seattle 1/2 marathon. Mike is doing the full marathon and I get to push Selah in the Chariot. I consider this a just for fun race. Hopefully, we'll be able to hook up with our friends Joe and Heidi while we're up north.

July 17th, the big one! Tahoe Rim Trail 100 mile. Goal? finish without dying :)

October 17th, Denver Rock n Roll Marathon.

December 5th, Las Vegas Rock n Roll Marathon. I did the 1/2 at 22 weeks pregnant in 2008 and this was my first "official" marathon in 2009. My goal is to break my marathon PR of 3:30.

It's going to be a big year!

Del.i.cious.ness

2010-02-05T08:15:00.004-07:00

I've made 2 new recipes of late in an effort to spend more time in my kitchen. While I appreciate the fact that my job provides three squares a day, I realized that I was feeling: 1. I live at work (which I guess I do), 2. I love to cook and miss it, and 3. I make healthy, tasty things.

They are both adapted from Rachael Ray recipes. I never follow a recipe very well, so I wrote them out as I made them, not as the originals were. If you make one, please let me know what you think.

Chicken Pot Pie (If this is not a husband/child pleaser, your eaters are too picky:)

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, poached and shredded or diced
1 onion, chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 pound button mushrooms, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
2 ribs celery, chopped
1 russet potato, diced
Salt and ground black pepper
3 tablespoons flour
1/2 cup white wine
1 cup milk
1-1 1/2 cups chicken stock
5 to 6 sprigs fresh tarragon, leaves picked and chopped
3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 cup frozen peas
1 sheet puff pastry or pie dough, defrosted if frozen (I used Pepperidge Farms, no hydrogenated oils)
1 egg, lightly beaten with a splash of water

Preheat oven to 375ºF.

Poach chicken breasts. To poach, place chicken breasts in a pan and mostly cover with water. Simmer, uncovered, until meat is cooked through, about 12 minutes. While meat is cooking, cut up veggies and brown in olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. When veggies are cooked through, sprinkle with flour, toss lightly to coat, and cook for about a minute. Deglaze pan with white wine and add stock and milk. Return to a simmer and add peas, tarragon, mustard, and shredded chicken. Stir until sauce starts to thicken, 2-3 minutes.

Transfer to a casserole dish and cover with the pastry dough, trimming it as needed to cover the entire surface (a good way to do this is to put the casserole dish on top of the dough and trace around the dish with a knife). Make a few slits in the dough to allow steam to escape, then brush the top with the beaten egg.

Bake the pot pie until the filling is bubbling and the crust is golden brown, about 30 minutes.

____________________________________________________

Chicken, Tomato, and Arugula pasta toss

Ingredients:

2/3-1 lb. whole wheat penne
3 T olive oil
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, diced
2 t. poultry seasoning
3 large cloves garlic, minced
1 large red onion, chopped
2 pints grape tomatoes
3 T flour
1 c. red wine
1 c. chicken stock
2 cups fresh basil, chopped
3 cups arugula, roughly chopped
1 cup shredded Parmesan

Cook pasta as directed. While pasta cooks, dice the chicken and season with poultry seasoning, salt, and pepper. Heat olive oil in a large skillet, add chicken, and cook until brown on all sides. Add garlic and onion and saute until soft, about 5 minutes. Add tomatoes, season with salt and pepper, and cover the pan with a lid. Cook about 5 minutes until the tomatoes begin to burst and release their juices. If they don't burst, break them open gently with a potato masher. Sprinkle flour over mixture and toss lightly to coat. Add red wine and chicken stock, stir, bring back to a boil, and cook a couple of minutes until slightly thickened. Turn off heat and stir in basil, arugula, and Parmesan. Serve.

Mission work

2010-02-03T14:00:00.002-07:00

Thanks to Aubyn, I discovered failblog.org. While I try to limit my blog to personal stuff (really, it's all about ME!), I just could not resist posting this.

Oh, and I find out on Saturday whether or not I made the lottery for the Wasatch 100!!

Selah at the basketball game

2010-01-24T08:33:00.003-07:00

Big Day with Daddy by Selah

2010-01-23T21:48:00.007-07:00

On Saturday Daddy and I got to spend the whole day together, allowing Mommy to go skiing with friends.

The night before Daddy made the mistake of not watching the clock and staying up until 11:30 reading. Well, I don't care when Daddy goes to bed because I like to get up around 6 no matter what. He keeps telling me that I need to learn about sleeping in on the weekends but to me a Saturday feels like any other day.

So, Daddy got up with me at 6:15 but instead of making coffee he shut the door to my room and lay on the adult bed in my room while I played by myself. It was fun because Daddy fell asleep and I could do whatever I want, like chew on used baby wipes and other trash out of the trash can in my room. Then Daddy woke up and he made coffee that our friends in London sent us. Daddy likes his quiet time to drink coffee, wake up and read the newspaper online. I like tormenting Daddy by trying to find trouble like eating paper and pulling things off shelves and hitting the keys on Daddy's keyboard. You know, that's what babies do.

After breakfast and my morning nap we started by playing inside. I love chasing my Daddy around the house and then letting him chase me. He's pretty fast but I think it's just because of his long legs. I also rode my Strider bike around the house and helped Daddy organize CDs. I couldn't figure out why he kept putting them on a spindle because you can only see the top one. It makes more sense to dump them on the floor so you can see what you've got.

I also helped Daddy trim his climbing skins for his new skis. I like licking the soft hair on one side of the skin and putting my hand in the sticky glue on the other side. Later, I got a little upset because I was trying to eat the dirt out of the big potted plant in the kitchen but Daddy made it really hard to get to and I hit my head when trying to climb through the shoe shelf. Ouch! Why did Daddy have to make it so hard to get to the dirt?

Daddy wanted to go for a run but it has snowed over a foot in the last two days and it was still snowing heavily Saturday morning. So, he took me sledding instead. Daddy built a little hill of snow about 4 feet tall in our yard and I can go down it really fast on my new orange sled. I also like crawling around and eating the snow. I like to put my nose deep in the snow. Brrr! I also like to crawl under the big pine tree and try to eat dirt.

Sledding was really fun until Daddy thought it would be funny to throw me into the deep powder. It didn't hurt but it was really cold when I sank a foot into the snow and the snow caved in on me. That made me cold so we went inside and warmed up.
Then Daddy took me to brunch. He had eggs benedict and I had spinach, potatoes, ham, grapes, and melon. Daddy tried sharing his orange juice with me but I didn't really like it.

I was so tired from sledding and playing in the snow that I took a 2 hour nap after lunch.

When I woke up Daddy was all packed up for skiing so we drove to Sunlight and Daddy bundled me up for a trip up the mountain. It was off and on snowing while I rode in the kid carrier on Daddy's back. I like catching the snow with my tongue but the kid carrier has a hood so it makes it hard to catch the snowflakes. Daddy says the hood keeps me warm but I think I would prefer to catch snowflakes. After getting to the top Daddy zoomed down the fresh snow. I like it when he goes fast.

From there, Daddy took me straight to the high school where I got to see my first basketball game. Daddy dressed me up in a little basketball uniform so that I would fit in. We got there just in time for the tip-off of the boys' varsity game. At first I didn't know what to think about all those people in the gym and the loud buzzers. Eventually I realized it was fun to crawl around on the bleachers, play with toys and eat yogurt and banana. I also like all the attention I get. Everyone wants to see me because they know my Daddy from school. It takes forever for us to walk anywhere because everyone wants to stop and talk to Daddy and look at me. Sheesh people, haven't you ever seen a baby before?

At halftime Daddy bought me popcorn. After eating some popcorn I was playing with a tube of yogurt when it broke open and sprayed all over the bleachers and the hair on the back of a girl's head. Woops, I'm just a baby so what do you expect?

Daddy cleaned me up and then we moved to a spot where I could have more room to play. I started to get the hang of clapping on the bleachers when the crowd would clap to celebrate a good play. It was fun, especially because Glenwood, my Daddy's school, won.

Then, we met Mommy and some of her students at the Hot Springs Pool. It's the world's largest hot springs pool and I really liked it. One of the pools is 100 yards long so I had plenty of room to swim with my Mommy and Daddy. I like to kick my legs and try to swim. I also like it when Daddy plays motor boat with me and goes really fast in the water. It's also fun we he picks me up and down out of the water really fast. That's fun. I also like drinking the water even though I'm not supposed to.

Eventually I got really tired because I was at the pool until 8:30 and usually I'm in bed by 7:00. Mommy washed me off and made me a bottle. By the time I got to the car I had almost finished the bottle because I was so hungry. Then, Daddy says I fell asleep after driving just a few blocks from the pool. I was so tired that I didn't even wake up at the loud sound of the Wendy's drive-thru speaker.

At home Daddy carried me inside and rocked me to sleep with another bottle. I was so tired I couldn't keep my eyes open for more than a couple minutes. And, I should have been tired, it was a long day with my Daddy!
Selah Claire is 9-1/2 months old. This is her first blog post.

More of Selah Sledding

2010-01-23T14:00:00.002-07:00

Yet another video of Selah sledding and playing in the snow. - Mike

Selah in the Snow

2010-01-23T13:40:00.003-07:00

Here's Selah playing in the snow in our yard. Crawling, licking snow, eating snow, and in general, having fun. - Mike

Selah Sledding

2010-01-23T13:23:00.002-07:00

Selah loves the snow. Here she gets a taste of sledding on the 4 ft. tall sledding hall Daddy built in the yard. - Mike

Selah Playing - Snowmass Kid Area

2010-01-23T13:06:00.002-07:00

A brief clip from when we went skiing at Snowmass with our friends Rob and El and took turns watching the kids at this really cool kid area at the base of the Snowmass ski area. There was a huge "treehouse" for climbing around in and the upstairs had this mock mining shack for kids to play in. It was pretty cool and Selah loved it. - Mike

More of Selah Playing

2010-01-23T12:37:00.002-07:00

More of Selah and Daddy playing. - Mike

Selah's First Bike

2010-01-23T09:29:00.003-07:00

Joy got Selah this little Strider bike. She's not quite tall enough but she kind of makes it after we took the seat off and put a tennis ball on the seat post. She can push herself along but needs some hands to serve as "training wheels" so she doesn't tip over. It's pretty fun letting her cruise around the house. - Mike

Selah playing

2010-01-23T08:18:00.004-07:00

Here's Selah playing in the drawers, busily entertaining herself. Since she learned to open and shut things she will spend a ton of time by herself just playing with whatever she finds. It's quite amusing to watch. - Mike

Licking the snow

2010-01-23T07:26:00.003-07:00

Selah loves to crawl around on the snow and lick it. It's really cute but we're trying to teach her to not lick the yellow snow.

These days

2010-01-10T21:14:00.006-07:00

So I am one of those moms that posts way too many pictures of her baby because she thinks her baby is exceptionally cute. Well, okay, fine. Here are the pictures anyway :)

Her new unfortunate favorite past time. She can unroll an entire roll with surprising speed. Then she likes to eat it.

Hanging with mom and dad at the gym.

Today we skied Snowmass with our friends Rob and El. Well, we didn't actual ski with them, just took turns watching the others' kid while the other couple skied. It was fun and we discovered a huge playroom open to the public.

It was in the low 30's, sunny, and clear.

Selah was really into the play area.

This girl has the most expressive face.

We bought a couple of pitchers for apres ski. We had free transferable passes, babysat our own children, and took the bus to park for free. We added up the savings as follows to justify 2 pitchers and a huge $18 plate of nachos:

4 adult lift tickets: $392

2 children in daycare at the ski area: $280

2 vehicles to park: $50

For a total of $722...yeah, it's Aspen all right.

These two will play for hours and hours and hours if given the chance. They are a sight.

My best news of the day? My parents are taking S and I to Maui for Spring Break! The only bummer is that poor Mikey has to stay home and work!

Driving already

2010-01-09T13:58:00.004-07:00

Watch this even if you watched the video on facebook. This one is different and also very funny.

one more thing

2010-01-06T22:00:00.001-07:00

I de-privatized my blog...for various reasons.

2010-01-06T21:40:00.002-07:00

I have been a slacker of a blogger lately, so I am about to write one big post with lots of pictures. I always put in too many photos because I can't decide which ones to use and Selah is just so dang cute, I just can't resist. Enjoy!

What the daily grind includes these days:

Selah's many faces...
(we were trying to get pictures of her 2 new bottom teeth)

Skinning laps at Sunlight with my girl on my back.

Happy girl dressed for the weather.

Mike and Selah skinning and skiing together in the sunny afternoon.

Family hikes (before the snow fell).

Selah conked out in the sling.

Here's what we've been up to the last month and a half...

We went to Iowa and Missouri for Thanksgiving and spent several days with Mike's family. Not just a few people, but 34 people IN ONE HOUSE. And we had our own room to boot! His aunt and uncle have a 6 bedroom, 4 bath house with ample floor space. It was a blast! Selah didn't sleep much, but we relaxed and just enjoyed all the company. One day, the hosts took the entire group of us to Silver Dollar City, their annual tradition. There were rides, deliciously fattening food, old time crafts, it was a fun time. Grandma loved hanging out with Selah!

Lots of lights and throngs of people.

Mike and Marge are waving in the top of the picture. We took turns riding roller coasters and watching Selah.

We got home from Missouri on Sunday night and flew out Friday the same week for the Las Vegas Marathon. It was our second annual and we officially declared the Vegas marathon a Schneiter family tradition. Thankfully, Marge joined us to help with Selah so we could both run. At least she used Selah as an excuse...she had her own great time in the casinos and was out until 2:00am one night! Mike's aunt and uncle from San Diego also came to Vegas to cheer us on and join the fun. Karen and Christopher stayed in the same hotel and spoiled us rotten with meals and more babysitting.

Mike's goal for the race was to break 3:00 and my goal was to be a Boston Qualifier, or 3:40. I'll do a quick race recap for those who care. I was a bit nervous to reach my goal, as 8:25 pace is normally pretty brisk for me and I wasn't sure I could maintain it for 26.2 miles. The race had a wave start and I was supposed to be in the 5th wave. When the first wave went, I was peeing. I finished and rushed to the mob of runners, hopped the fence, and just started with the next wave. I didn't know which wave I was in, so I didn't know my actual starting time (I forgot my watch). So I started running and eventually broke out of the slower mass into a group that felt more my pace. I ran up behind a woman from Boulder and asked her if she wanted to run together. She obliged and we ended up running until the half marathon and marathon courses split, the 10 mile point. We were very excited to be running about 7:45 pace (thanks to her watch!) while having a casual conversation. While I still didn't know exactly where I was overall, I figured I was about 3 minutes behind the pace clocks along the course, meaning I thought I'd started about 3 minutes after the first wave. I was feeling really incredible and when we split, I felt like I could speed up. There were clocks every mile and I was holding pretty steady at 7:45-7:55 pace until mile 18 or so. I then saw my pace slow and did one 8:20 mile (which I later learned was uphill). When I hit the final turnaround at mile 19, I started speeding up again and continued to feel good and break 8:00 pace. I crossed the finish line and the official clock said 3:35. I didn't know what I had really run until Mike's uncle Tom texted Marge--he had been receiving live updates online and knew that my actual time was 3:30:11. I was so excited! I just could not believe I had run 8:01 pace for an entire marathon! Mike was also very happy to tell me that he had run 2:57:46, or 6:47 pace. We won't be running Boston this year but hopefully in 2011.

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Proud marathon finishers.

Margie and I on the Strip.

The next adventure after Vegas was a much needed Christmas and New Year's break. One of the biggest advantages of working in the school system is having the holiday breaks! We all went to Jackson to spend the time with my parents and brother. Dad had a knee replacement a few days after we arrived, so most of his time was spent reclining. However, the time was still wonderful and Selah's smiling face cheered us all up. Mike and I felt like non-parents for a few days--we went to the climbing gym, went skiing together, slept in, etc. Selah also started sleeping through the night while we were there. What a relief! With Reese's encouragement, I put her in a room where I could not hear her for 4 nights in a row. I moved her back to the nearby bedroom on the 5th night and she has slept through since. Before she was getting up at 11pm and again between 2 and 4, sometimes both 2 and 4. Now she sleeps from 7pm to 6 or 7am. I really feel like a new person after sleeping so much over the past weeks. I was starting to fall apart.

My sweet girl loves bath time.

Mike and I were able to backcountry ski together three days in a row. Here I am in the snow cave on top of Mount Glory, above Teton Pass.

Wes joined us as well on Glory. It's so great to have all my family in the same town! Makes holiday travel much easier. Now if we could just get Marge to move to Jackson...

About 12 inches of fresh two days in a row. :)

Dad's couch time was relieved by Selah crawling all over him.

She has discovered pulling things off shelves, namely CD's and books. If you put them away, she comes back and looks around like, "hey, I just spent a lot of energy putting those on the floor!"

My mom blessed us by getting up with Selah in the morning and allowing us to sleep in.

This captures her so well.

Dad, Selah, and our friend Carrie. Carrie is pregnant and due April 16th.

Now we're back at work, enjoying the process of the day to day.

Classic Selah

2009-11-30T21:14:00.003-07:00

Gimme that camera.

Studio Pictures

2009-11-29T07:21:00.003-07:00

Margie has been asking me for studio pictures for months and I have resisted and resisted and resisted. She finally convinced me today and we went to the mall and I am SO GLAD she made me do it! We ended up with very cute pictures!

Here they are...

Turkey Trot

2009-11-26T15:35:00.008-07:00

Mike and I ran the second race of our midwest tour this morning, the Springfield Turkey Trot 5K. We had so much fun! Like the LHF race, there was a huge showing, a record breaking 6000 runners. Marge and her sister Linda braved the early morning chill to cheer us on and watch Selah. After the 1 or 2am bedtime last night, getting out of the house before 7:00 was pretty impressive.

Grandma and Selah playing in the truck before the race.

Mike finished in 17:22, beating his goal of sub-18:00 by a nice margin. He was 25th overall out of 2475 men and 2nd in his age group. The local high school and college cross country seasons just ended, so there was plenty of competition in the younger age groups. The winning male ran it in 15:18.

I PR'ed with 21:16!

My old 5K PR was from my junior year of high school (11 years ago), a pitiful 22:40 for 3 miles. 5K is actually 3.1 miles and that 0.1 would add about 35 seconds, making a total of about 23:15. I really have hardly done any 5K's since then, maybe a half dozen or so in the past year while pregnant or early postpartum. I was REALLY happy with my 21:16 finish today, a PR by about 2 minutes! It was good for 17th woman of 2954 and 3rd in my age group. The winning woman ran 18:30.

Family Climbing Outing at Indian Bluffs, Iowa

2009-11-25T16:29:00.006-07:00

Monday afternoon Joy and I got out for a quick little climb in one of my favorite old stomping grounds. Just a few miles from the farm where I grew up is a beautiful little chunk of state land called Indian Bluffs. I used to hike and rally my dirt bike around this area as a kid. Later, after I became a climber, I frequented the limestone cliffs which compose some of the tallest rock in Iowa.

Hiking in

The notch in the middle is called the "Gunsight." We scrambled up to its base and climbed the right side of it to gain access to the top of the ridge which forms a mesa of sorts.

Joy, ready to belay with Selah's help.

Looking down at Joy and Selah after I led up the route. There used to be a number of old pitons on the route, relics of the surprisingly long history of climbing in Iowa. There's evidence of climbing dating back to as early as the 30s. Now, all the pitons are gone, but the 5.7ish route can be easily protected with stoppers. Joy climbed the 25-foot route with Selah on her back, tightly strapped in and with a tight belay.

Selah enjoyed playing in the grass and crawling around on top of the formation under the watchful eye of mom and dad.

My beautiful wife, what more can I say.

Here's a cool formation of seashells on top of the ridge.

The view from on top of the formation is amazing, with a number of tall limestone faces in view, bountiful trees, and the meandering Jordan Creek below. Indian Bluff gets its name from the long history of Native American presence there. Chief Black Hawk is a prominent Native Anmerican in Iowa history and Indian Bluff was one of his favorite hunting areas.

Selah's First Skiing

2009-11-24T20:00:00.003-07:00

Joy forgot to post this, so I'll do it. When the snow was flying a couple weeks ago we got out to Sunlight for a little skinning and skiing with Selah in the backpack. It was her first time skiing unless you count the many days she had bouncing around in Joy's belly last winter, including hiking Highlands Bowl, skiing Mt. Justice, and skinning Sunlight one week before birth.

Snug as can be and totally happy.

Drowned rat

2009-11-24T12:51:00.003-07:00

I could have felt like a drowned rat on my run today... but I just stuck my tongue out and caught as many rain drops as I could. I felt so joyful today. It is rainy, windy, and nippy here in Iowa but I just had to get out for a run. I didn't wear enough clothes so instead of getting cold, I just ran as fast as I could. Ended up doing a hilly 7 mile loop in 54:00, 7:42 pace. I am getting faster! Maybe the whole postpartum boost has finally hit, because I have never been able to run even close to that in the past, especially alone in the pouring rain.

A recent changes that are probably affecting my pace:

1. My eye is on the Vegas marathon. I keep visualizing myself crossing the finish line at my goal pace and have thus pushed my pace on my training runs lately.

2. Lost my last pregnancy weight. 5 pounds makes a big difference.

3. Started taking Asmanex, a daily inhaled steroid, for my asthma. My peak flow has increased about 25% in 3 weeks since I started.

4. In Iowa around 800 feet of elevation, down from 6400 at home.

5. Fruits and veggies and veggies and more fruit and more veggies...

I often think about how thankful I am to have running in my life.

Iowa!

2009-11-22T08:14:00.007-07:00

Mike and I successfully traveled to Iowa Friday night. . . just barely. Our first flight was delayed by 70 minutes, leaving us with 20 minutes to catch our second flight. Of course, the second flight was in a different terminal and we got there with less than 2 minutes to spare. Mike's bladder was on the verge of bursting, so he had to stop to pee while I ran to the gate. The woman at the gate told him, "You better burst next time!". Amazingly, our luggage made it through the short layover! We had a race Saturday morning and would have been very very very disappointed to not have our bags.

We took advantage of the delayed flight by heading to the park to play. Selah loves swinging, slides, grass, rocks, and playing in general.

Mike and I ran the country's largest cross country race on Saturday morning, the Living History Farms Race. He ran it several times in and after college and actually won it about 10 years ago. The race has now grown to 7500 runners!! We had so much fun! It is all on the LHF, literally through multiple shin to thigh-deep creeks (I think there were 6 or 7 crossings), up mud walls so steep you need ropes to get up them, through corn fields for 7.25 miles. Many dressed up in silly costumes--we saw a pack of Crayons, Santa and his reindeer all tied together, lots of prom dresses on men, men with not nearly enough clothing on, etc etc.

Here we are after the race.

I felt pretty good despite the chill and was happy when I got to mile 2 in 17:30. I didn't have a watch and asked another runner for the time at 4 miles. He said "40:00" and I couldn't believe I had slowed down so much! He must have given me the wrong time because I crossed the finish line at 57:56, about 7:58 pace. That was good enough for 12th in my age group and the 54th woman of 3200 overall! The race gave me a confidence boost for the upcoming Vegas marathon (my goal is 8:25 pace to qualify for Boston). I figure if I can do 7:58 pace through the woods and over logs and through creeks, there's a decent chance I can do 8:25 pace on the flats. Mike ran it in about 45 minutes, good for 8th in his age group and 72nd man.

Selah got to hang out with Grandma while we ran--a treat for everyone involved! Marge is coming to Vegas with us as well.

We're in Monticello now for a few days before driving South to Missouri for the 16th annual AGRA, Annual Great Rieken Adventure. Marge's family has been meeting at her brother Tom's place for Thanksgiving and fun and this will be our first year going. We are so excited!

2009-11-14T14:03:00.001-07:00

We woke up to this today:

Beautiful, I know, but I was starting to get used to the Indian Summer that was upon us. I haven't yet had to stop running in shorts (aside from a brief cold spell) and am not ready to self-motivate and get out in the cold. I was able to do Red Hill (alone!) on Thursday after work, one of my fave local trails. I left at 4:30 and forgot that it now get's DARK at 5:15. It's a steep, rocky trail and I topped out at 5:07. One could say it was a mistake, but that just wouldn't be true. It really was a blast skipping through the rocks back home in the dark.

I came home after work to this sweet scene yesterday. Selah has a habit of stroking Mike's hand or my chest while she eats. Those sweet and perfectly soft little fingers make me melt.

We went on a little family hike/run on a new trail near our house. Now that Selah is so big and strong, we can actually run with her in the Ergo, at least uphill and not too fast.

Our friends Nancy and Derek had us over for dinner last night. The kiddos played while we drank wine and celebrated my first night off call in 8 weeks.

Derek and Zach. Z and Selah are 6 weeks apart.

Mike decided to run a 5K this morning in Glenwood. You can see the weather and how every other person is dressed...looks like crazy Mike forgot to bring his clothes! He's the one in the orange shorts and black t-shirt.

S and I snuggled and stayed warm.

One of Mike's XC kids pulled ahead of Mike in the last mile for the win. Ryan is nearly a foot shorter and wore pink polka-dotted socks--just sayin'.

M, Ryan, S, and a couple of the XC girls.

Visitors!

2009-11-07T19:42:00.006-07:00

My parents came to visit for the weekend. What a treat!
Daddy and I on a campus tour.

Me, Selah, and mom.

Mom and Selah laughing at each other during bath time.

2009-11-05T10:48:00.001-07:00

Two more things...if you think the smoothie sounds disgusting, try it! Also, I am hungry by 10:30 and drink hot tea with a touch of honey to hold me over until lunch.

Back to Prepregnancy weight!

2009-11-05T08:40:00.004-07:00

After gaining over 40 pounds during my pregnancy, I am officially back to my prepregnancy weight this week. I exercised my entire pregnancy--ran about 4 miles most days to 38 weeks and skinned and skied to 38 weeks. Everyone told me the weight would slide right off because of the exercise, and they were mostly right. Except for those pesky last 5 pounds! I am in marathon training right now and no amount of running was getting those pounds to budge. Finally, just over a week ago, I got serious and made some changes. The weight fell off in one week! Some of it was probably retained water from eating carbs. Here's what I did...

1. Traded my normal bagel, cream cheese, and jam breakfast for a green smoothie:

Recipe:
1 banana
handful of berries
handful mixed frozen fruit from Costco
1 cup full fat yogurt
small scoop of orange juice concentrate
enough water to blend smooth (1-2 cups)
a few handfuls of spinach

it makes just over a liter

2. Avoided any refined carbs. I have a candy jar on my desk for my students and I have a tendency to dig in a little myself. I moved the jar so I can't reach it and now keep it nearly empty instead of full. I also have a guilty pleasure of a bowl (or two) of sugar cereal at night. I refused to buy more cereal and when Mike did, I made him hide it from me. I don't really eat bread (aside from the breakfast bagel), crackers, chips or other refined carbs very often, so I was really just cutting out the extras.

I feel great! I have been running faster and can feel a big difference with just 5 pounds. My training pace is down to sub 8:30 min/mile while pushing Selah in the stroller. My goal is to qualify for Boston at the Vegas marathon, which means 8:25 pace, or a 3:40 marathon. It is going to be a big challenge for me.