Let the Racing Begin - 16 weeks till my Full Marathon!

I have 2 running goals for 2009. One goal is to run at least one race each month. So far, I am right on track with a race to spare as I ran 2 races in April!! My other goal is to run my first full marathon on August 16th. I have begun training for my full and am happy to report that things are going well. Here is a list of the races I have done so far this year:

Jan 1st - This is My Year 4 mile Run - 43:20

Feb. 8th - February Freeze 5K - 31:21

March 21st - Dublin Dash 5K - 32:27

April 5th - Run for the Rangers 3 mile Run - 29:15

April 18th - Kevin Whirlwind Horse 5K - 27:42

And here is a list of races that I plan on doing until August:

May 10th - Run for Their Lives (SIDS Awareness) 5K

May 17th - Wellspring Stampede 10K

June 7th - Deadwood/Mickelson Half Marathon

June 13th - Hayfever Fun Run 4 miler

July 12th - Missoula Half Marathon

July 25th - CASA Half Marathon

August 16th - Leading Ladies FULL Marathon

I can feel spring TRYING to come to South Dakota! And then the real racing can begin! Half Marathons are my favorite and I'm hoping I can do 4 this year, one more than last year!

A Postponed Race, but a Good Run Anyway

On Sunday morning, we woke up to fresh snow and it was coming down good. Kelly and I were supposed to be running a 10K and Caiden a 1 mile race that morning, but thankfully about half an hour before we were planning on leaving, we found out that it had been postponed until May 17th. I am so glad we found out and didn't drive all the way to Rapid only to find out then! The fact that it was cancelled put me in a bad mood and I didn't want to go running at all. But around 3:30, I finally got my butt in gear and headed to the gym. I had decided that since my race was postponed, I was going to run 2 more miles than the race, so 8 miles. Well, after an hour and a half, I decided that I would just run for 2 hours and then I looked down at my counter after 2 hours and realized that I had just 6 more laps for 11 miles. So, after 2 hours and 6 minutes and 126.5 laps later, I had run 11 miles. And I felt great! I hadn't run more than 10 miles since last year so this was exciting. So, even though my race was postponed, I still ended up with a good run and more time to prepare for my race in a few weeks!

Swimming!

We spent Saturday afternoon at the pool after going to the library - we had to find indoor activities as it was snowing at our house again! We ended up with 6 inches here in Belle Fourche. Will Spring ever come??? The kids had a blast at the pool though so I am thankful we have that option!

A Day at the Park

The kids and I also went to one of our favorite parks on one of the few days that it was actually nice outside while Chris was in Boston. When the sun is out and it's 60 degrees outside, you better get outside, because you don't know when that will happen again! It was a little windy out, but no one seemed to mind as there were a ton of people with the same idea as ours! :)

Chuck E Cheese Fun!

While Chris was in the Boston, I had promised the kids that we would go to Chuck E Cheese. You see, they LOVE this place, and Chris, not so much. So, Kelly and I took the kids for an afternoon of pizza, games, and prizes. And of course, Kelly being the cute girl she is, the guy doing the prizes at the table was pretty smitten with her and the kids were able to pretty much get whatever they wanted, no matter how many tickets they had! HA!

Boston Marathon Madness

Most of you probably already know, but Chris did awesome in the Boston Marathon. He ran his 2nd fastest time (3:15:41), he was the fastest runner in the Black Hills and he had an awesome trip meeting lots of his online running friends. You can read all about it on his blog, but I just wanted to post a couple of articles and links to his pictures so you can check it all out! :) Enjoy!

Here is how you look at his pictures from the actual race:
1. go to www.baa.org
2. click on Boston Marathon
3. click on Shop
4. click on marathonfoto.com
5. Select race (Boston Marathon 2009) Last Name: Stores - Bib # 5189

Here are a few articles that our local paper ran before and after the Marathon:

http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2009/04/23/sports/local/doc49effa1bf1417380780539.txt

http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2009/04/20/sports/local/doc49ecd052ca22e078071115.txt

http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2009/04/16/sports/local/doc49e779d996423193193271.txt

We are so proud of Chris for accomplishing a life goal of his - he is a true inspiration and motivator to all of his family and friends! We Love you Chris!!!!!!!!

Preschool Open House

Thursday night was the kids' preschool open house where they were able to show us the things in their classroom, show us the work and projects they have been working on all year and singing us some of the songs that they have learned. Chloe was SO excited to sing for us, but wouldn't tell us what she was going to sing. Of course when she was up there with her class, she barely moved her lips, but her just getting up there is a triumph in itself. A year ago, she would barely talk to anyone except for us, but she has really started to open up, even at school. We are very excited for her. Caiden is SO good at school, but only wants to do math every minute of the day. He does not see the value in practicing his letters at all. He is really excited for Kindergarten to start in the fall. Chloe says she is going to stay in preschool forever with her favorite teacher, Ms. Rebecca.

Take Your Kids to Work Day

On Thursday, the kids got to go to work with Chris and had a great time. Of course, they didn't have to sit in the office like he does all day, so I think he was just as excited as they were. They went to Pactola Lake for some hiking, bird watching, and a picnic lunch. They also received a bag of goodies from Daddy's co-worker, Smokey the Bear. :)

Kevin Whirlwind Horse 5K Race Report

On Saturday, I ran in the Kevin Whirlwind-Horse 5K at Black Hills State University. All of the proceeds go towards a scholarship fund which is given to a Native American student at BHSU each year who displays leadership. Kevin Whirlwind Horse was a student at Black Hills in the early 1980's until he was tragically killed in a car accident in 1983. Now, his name lives on through this race.They started with the kid's races and Caiden is the youngest runner usually, he holds his own! He ran the 1/4 mile run and ended up 11th out of about 20 kids. :)I ran this race last year and ran my 5K PR time there so I was excited to see if I could beat that time. There was a light drizzle and temps in the 40s during the entire race so it was just about right for me! It's a really easy course ran through a park on a bike path, so it's pretty fast. I felt pretty good through the whole race and knew that I would be close to my PR time. I even passed a guy in the last half mile which I never am able to do! As I came into the last stretch, I saw my sister and my kids cheering me on and I sprinted it out at the end, and ended up with a time of 27:42 - 12 seconds SLOWER than my last years time....Ouch! But hey, what's 12 seconds, right? It was still a great race. I ended up 4th in my age group as a lot of college students run this race and I am still in my 20s. IF I was already 30, I would have been 2nd in my age group! ha! My friend Rebecca ran too and it was her first 5K so it was a great day overall. She did end up 2nd in the 30s age group and got a medal! :) And I have to give props to my friend Tim, who pushed his 2 year old daughter in the 10K and finished in 52 minutes! Pretty awesome!

Happy Easter!

Our family had a wonderful Easter with lots of dying eggs, Caiden sitting on the Easter bunny's lap (Chloe wouldn't even get close!), finding eggs, opening fun Easter baskets, going to church and going to out to dinner (no leftovers and no mess to clean up afterwards!) Here are some pictures from our Easter weekend!

Run for the Rangers 3 Mile Race

Today I ran in the inaugural "Run for the Rangers" 3 mile race in Hill City. It was a fundraiser for the Hill City track and cross country teams (Hill City is about an hour and half south of us). I wasn't sure if they would have this race or not as we have had 3 blizzards in the past 3 weeks with a foot or more of snow dropped on us each time. But a quick e-mail confirming that they would run the race no matter what and we decided to go for it. By we, I mean, my sister, Kelly, and my friends, Tim and Amy with their daughter, Avryl. It was a race that we had had our eye on for a while as they were promoting over $2000 worth of door prizes after the race and we definitely wanted to get in on that!

It was still snowing when we left this morning and it took a little while longer to get down to Hill City as the roads were not in the best conditions. But, thanks to Tim's good driving, we made it we did with time to spare. :) We signed up and got our T-shirt and hung out talking to some of the other runners. At noon, we were off -(not very fast for me however!) It was hard to run on snow packed roads and trails. After we got to some wet pavement, I felt much better. It was a combination of snow-packed, slushy, and wet roads, sidewalks, and the Mickelson trail for the 3 miles and running on snow made my calves burn pretty good. But after seeing the finish line after my last turn, it was smooth sailing and I finished with a time of 29:13:41. Not my fastest time, but anything under 30 minutes I was happy with with the conditions I was running in.

After the race, everyone got a free soda or a free beer at the Slate Creek Grille in Hill City and we had some lunch while they announced the age group awards and the door prizes. Everyone knew they were getting something as they had 3 tables full of stuff, way more stuff than runners! And this was awesome stuff - not your average run of the mill door prizes like Pizza Hut and Mr. Movies gift certificates. I'm talking stuff from Patagonia, Royal Robbins, Marmot, and HornyToad outdoor gear! Everyone was quite excited!

Tim was called first from our group and got a cool T-shirt and the Kelly was called next and spent about an hour up at the tables deciding what she was going to get (all the while really stressing Amy and I out because she was going to end up with something she didn't want or something we really did want!) but she finally decided on the same T-shirt Time got right after Amy was called and grabbed the gift certificate for rock climbing lessons that she had hid under a pile of clothes! ha! I ended up with a really cool HornyToad Long-sleeved shirt (for those of you not in the know, that shirt retails for over $50!) We couldn't believe the stuff that they were giving away. And the top guy and girl each got a new pair of running shoes! It was insane! We tried to get some more stuff since there was so much left over, but they said they were going to use it for next year! Hey, we tried....

After the door prizes, they did the age group awards and I ended up 3rd in my age group! I'm not sure how many 20-something females there were (probably 3!), but I was 24th overall out of the 62 runners. And Amy was 9th overall and 2nd in her age group! We each got a certificate for our efforts.

After some Easter gift shopping at Walmart, I got home to one child sleeping, one child watching a movie, and one husband folding laundry! So, it was a great day overall! Thanks to Tim and Amy driving me and Kelly to Hill City and for the fun company!

Happy 5th Birthday Caiden!

Today is Caiden's 5th birthday! I can't believe he is so old. He's definitely not a baby anymore. I'm not sure where these 5 years went! He loves numbers and counting. He loves to count (by 2s, 3s, 5s, and 10s) and tell time. Preschool is one of his favorite places to go as he loves to learn. He is excited for Kindergarten in the fall. He also loves loves loves sports. He can't wait for T-ball and soccer to start. All day long, he is either throwing his football around or shooting his basketball. He will watch any sporting event, even if it's on ESPN Classic from 30 years ago. He also takes after his dad in the running department. He is a pretty fast little guy. He has run in some 1K races and this summer, he is doing 2 kid's marathons where he runs 25 miles (a mile or so at a time) and then finishes the last 1.2 miles at the actual race.
Last night Kelly, Chris, and I were reminiscing about what we were doing 5 years ago as we were waiting for Caiden to come out - Kelly was only 14 then! I was drugged up pretty good and Caiden was not coming out! Finally, my 10 pound (ok, ok 9lb 13oz!) boy arrived shortly after 1am on April Fools Day morning. Everyone was excited - he was the first grandchild and nephew on both sides of the family so it was an exciting time.
Caiden has brought so much joy to our lives and I can't imagine life without him. Everyday he learns something new or figures something out on his own that just shocks us. He is growing up and I can't wait to see what the future holds for him!

Here is a slide show of his birthday party we had over the weekend. My dad and Lauren were both able to treck down to SD to celebrate with us so it was really fun. 20 of Caiden's friends came to his party to have some fun and eat some yummy cake and ice cream. Thanks everyone for making Caiden's birthday so much fun!