Just Keep Running

Remember last week when I talked about joining the local rec center in 2011?

As part of my goals for 2011, I was determined to run the Flying Pig Half Marathon.

See, 2 years ago, my husband and I trained for the 2010 Flying Pig Half Marathon, beginning in January of that year. I had run one other half in 2003, and my husband had never one run. This one we'd run together!

Then I got pregnant!

I was still training, just taking it at a little slower pace. I knew I could still complete the race. What an accomplishment it was going to be for me!

Then, 2 weeks before the race, I noticed a lot of blood. A LOT of blood. Luckily, after an emergency trip to my OBGYN, we heard the heartbeat, had an ultrasound, and everything was OK. I had a tear in the placenta, but usually they fix themselves. I was put on orders of no strenuous activity. And that meant no race. To say I was heartbroken was an understatement. For weeks, months, I had trained. But my baby's health was more important. My husband completed his first half marathon, and I couldn't have been more proud of him!

Even though I was elated for him and his victory, I cried as he crossed the finish line. Honestly speaking, they weren't just tears of excitement for him. I couldn't help but feel jealous and selfish, that I should have been out there too. I wanted to be out there running. I actually enjoy running, and I was devestated that I was on the sidelines.

Fast forward to 2011, and I was committed to completing the race. I knew it would be tough. Training for a half is a time commitment. With two small kids in the mix, the time management becomes even more difficult. But I was determined.

To say I was out of shape was an understatement. I knew I needed more time than the standard 12 week training plan. So, I joined the rec center and created my own training plan:

All of my week day runs would be on my lunch hour. My Saturday runs would of course require lots of help from my husband so I could spend 1-2 hours running, plus stretching and showering.

Once I got into 4 and 5 mile runs during the week, that meant longer lunch hours. I couldn't get in that long of a run plus showering in less than an hour.

But my job was flexible, and I could come in a little early, and stay a little later on the days that I needed close to a 90 minute lunch hour.

My cousin had decided to train for the Pig that year as well. We had babies only 1 week apart (how cool is that?!) Unfortunately, we weren't able to do any training runs together, but somehow, we found each other at the starting line the morning of the race! What were the odds? So, we ran together. It was such a blessing to run 13.1 miles with my cousin. We pushed each other and it was amazing to cross the finish line with her.

On May 1, 2011, I could finally say I had run the Flying Pig! Mission Accomplished!

While my husband and I would both like to run the half Pig together this year, it really does take a lot of commitment and time away from family. So, I think we'll stick to the 10k because training time is so much easier to manage. And if neccessary, we can stick the kids in the double jogger and get in a run (I wouldn't want to do that for an 8+ mile training run!)

I wanted to share my training plan with you all, just in case you're motivated to try a half marathon for yourself!

And don't worry about speed. My 2011 half was by far the slowest I had run any race in my entire life. But I finished. And I didn't walk. And I had no injuries.

This year's goals are more focused around weight training. I'm still working on that schedule and I'll try to remember to post it once I feel good about it. It's a work in progress :)

Happy Running!

　

Grandparent Appreciation Dinner

My husband and I are very blessed to live in the same town as both of our parents.
After we graduated from college and were making plans for our future, we always dreamed of moving to a "big" city and getting away from our hometown (even though my husband and I didn't meet until our junior year of college, we actually only grew up minutes from each other!)

Now that we have kids, I recognize what a blessing it is to have each of our parents close by.  What a different life we'd be living if our family wasn't in the same city!  Some may take this for granted, and sometimes I do too.  I grew up with my maternal grandparents living 12 hours away.  We usually only got together once or twice a year, for a week or two at a time.  My kids have such a different experience having each set of grandparents only living about a 20 minute drive away!  It's also quite convenient (and wonderful, at the same time) to be able to call either of the grandparents to hang out with their grandkids when we make some last minute plans (and by last minute, this still means a few days in advance, but you catch my drift!)

So, this past weekend, we had a "Grandparent Appreciation Dinner"!
It was nothing fancy and planned less than a week in advance, but a great time was had by all. 
We had a pasta bar, with multiple types of pasta, various sauces, breadsticks and salad.  Of course there was plenty of beer and wine too (and milk for the kiddos!)

We know our parents love to spend time with their grandkids every chance they get.  But we still just wanted to take some extra time to say "THANK YOU" for everything they do. 
We love you!!

Church Festival Weekend!

Wow. What a busy weekend we had. I think I'm still recovering.  And Yes, I realize it is already Thurday and the next weekend is getting ready to start.

But I still wanted to share our past weekend with you all!

My in-laws run the Hamburger/Sausage/Chicken booth at their church festival every year. That in turn means they need workers, and lots of them.

And THAT  means they start by recruiting family.

We have worked the church festival weekend, I think ever since I met my husband 8 years ago. I've skipped out on my duties the past 2 years since I had kiddos to watch (I even worked while I was 8+ months preggo with my daughter, but had frequent sitting breaks!)   But this year, I was back in the game. My husband and I worked Friday night while my parents watched the kids. Don't get me wrong, working the food booth is actually somewhat fun, as we get free beer and get to work it with friends!

Church festivals also mean festival rides.

Having an almost 3 year old means she wants to ride LOTS of rides. She doesn't quite get that they are expensive!

So she rode 2 rides on Friday night and promised her we'd come back. Which of course we did.

Sunday offerred an 4 hour, unlimited ride pass at a discounted rate. I thought she might ride just enough times to get our money's worth (she would have needed to ride at least 7 times)...boy did she ever!

I think the giant slide alone she rode 12 times!

　

　

　She also rode the "cars"  quite a few times:

And the other cars, where she got to "drive the wheel"

And don't forget the TeaCups!

Her little brother isn't quite big enough for any rides...so he just had to watch big sister have all of the fun:

The unlimited ride pass was definitely money well spent!

Church festival weekend is always a busy weekend spent with friends and family.  We all had a great time and can't wait for next year when we  can do it all again!

It's a Date

My husband and I recognize the importance of going on dates together, even though we have 2 little ones at home.  But because those little ones don't quite know how to sleep in (well, actually my son doesn't quite know how to sleep AT ALL) we try to have date days instead of date nights.

This way we aren't out late, only to be woken up at the nice early hour of say, 5:30am, by our sweet children.  And as an added bonus, the kids get some quality time with their grandparents!

We tend to steer away from traditional “dinner and a movie” dates, so this past Saturday we took at trip to Over-the-Rhine (OTR) in Cincinnati.  Not exactly a hot spot for a date in Cincinnati...but it was for us!

We finally experienced Findlay Market and then took a walking tour, sponsored by the OTR Brewery District.

I cannot believe it has taken me this long to visit Findlay Market.  It was so much fun!

There is an unbelievable amount of fresh food to choose from and so much fun variety!

Since we were going to be doing the walking tour right from the market, we had only brought a small cooler to store some food.  We didn't load up on the produce like I would have liked, but we definitely plan on heading back down soon!

At one of the entrances of the market, there is the Over-the-Rhine Biergarten at Findlay Market.  After we strolled through the market, drooling just about every step of the way at the amazing selection of food, we sat down to eat and have a beer before the tour started.



(Beer and Fudge, what could be better?!)



Our tour guide was so informational and you could tell he loved what he was doing.  While the tour was focused around beer brewing and the impact beer making had on  the city, there was a lot of historical information about the OTR area, then and now.  It was such a sad statistic to learn that an area that was once the home to over 44,000 people now cites a population of only around 8,000.  This in turn means that over 70% of the buildings in OTR and vacant.  Due to the sad state of the buildings (and the area in general), real estate is beyond cheap.  I think my husband was ready to call a realtor before we were even finished with the tour (but with 2 kids and a limited budget, I was able to remind him that we don't exactly have the time or finances for a complete building renovation right now)!

We were able to walk through some of the old vacant brew houses.  This one was in process (actually, halted) renovation to be turned into condos. 



Original conveyor system...how cool!



Do you know what this is growing on the side of this building? 

Hops!  (Who's ready to make beer?!)

Luckily we got a break from the heat and traveled into the old lagering cellars that are carved into the hillside!  It was dark, wet, and cool...and quite amazing.

 2.5 hours after we started our tour, we concluded our walk back at Findlay Market...time for another beer!

My husband and I had a great time on our date day.   We even finished early enough to eat dinner with the kids before it was off to bed (for everyone...including us!)

We definitely enjoyed our time visiting new places in the city, learning a little history, and of course, spending some quality time together!

Do you take the time to "date"?

What fun things do you do for dates, that are different than the standard dinner and a movie?