Puddle Jump!

It was a relatively fast long-week.  I subbed for Leslie on Thursday & Friday, so I got a taste of what full-time feels like.  My home-life routine was off all week.  I took nearly zero pictures.  I was tired.  Finley cried at drop-offs each morning, begging for a home-day.  Every evening was the same - home at 5:15, quick dinner, immediately into the tub (the kids, not me), pack my lunch, lay out our clothes, pass out and repeat.  Wow - do I like what Leslie & I have going on - I actually play with my kids, sometimes I cook (Grandma brought us dinner two nights this week), we get the errands/laundry done before the weekend, etc.  The grocery store on a Saturday afternoon? Eeewww, traffic jam of shopping carts.  So here's the one picture I took Monday-Friday, the kids eating Grandma's meatloaf...both ate it, I cheer whenever meat gets into their mouths.

The only other picture from mid-week is one Patrick texted from the bathroom.  Bubble City.

It was the annual Puddle Jump 5K!  The Puddle Jump began seven years ago with 100 runners, yesterday over 1,500 came out for the event...Finley & I were two of them.

It's a fun race and many of our school district staff participates, here are Rachel & I at the starting line.

Even though it was chilly, my parents brought the kids down to cheer me on.  Grandma & Grandpa helped Finley make a sign - he was so proud of it!  He wrote both their names (reminding Grandpa that Hadley's last name is the same as his) and included their ages (next to to the F in Finley is a 4, right above is a 1 for Hadley).

It's a short out-and-back, so my family saw me three times.  See the guy right next to me in the light t-shirt?  His name is Pat and he's a friend (I work with his wife), more to come on him.

Here I come down the final stretch - there's the guy in the light colored t-shirt again, behind the girl in yellow.  For the first time ever, I beat him.  We've run many of the same events and I always finish a little behind him, one time I even lost by 1 second.  Not this year - ha!

That girl in yellow?  She's in high school and I passed her around the 2.5 mile mark, thankfully she didn't catch back up, I took 2nd for females.  I finished in 21:01, unfortunately my goal was to be under 21 minutes and I was 35 seconds slower than last year, but the fact I beat Pat (and a high school runner) left me happy, I can be competitive ;)

It certainly wasn't a pretty finish - I started dry heaving with about 20-30 feet to go.  I have dry heaved following short races, but never while finishing - cute.

After my race, we warmed up with coffee and a visit with the Puddle Jump ducks.

And then the pre-race jitters set in for someone else. 

Finley ran the 1/4 mile Kid's Race!  It was a loop around the Farmer's Market, allowing plenty of spectators to cheer on this adorable group of kids!  I ran along and this was my view - love him! 

Coming down the final stretch - I cheered as Finley ran!

He must get his finishing-face from me - he looks tired, but he did it - he ran the whole way!

This running-mom is SO proud of this running-boy, especially that he's excited about these kids races!  He received a ribbon for participating...but wondered where his medal was.

On Sunday morning, there was more Puddle Jump excitement - one of my favorite fans had his picture in our newspaper!  We knew there was a chance, a photographer had asked for his name and age.  Immediately after getting our paper, I frantically opened it and was super-excited to see Finley!

In non-racing news - Hadley likes to eat chapstick.

Today I needed some time to get life ready for another week.  Not to beat a dead horse, but when you're not used to full-time, your weekends are full of all the 'crap' you normally do during the week.  While I worked on laundry and school stuff, Patrick took the kids out for breakfast to McDonalds.

And a sweet big brother helped his little sister crawl through Play Land.