Whew. Does anyone else feel like this week has just FLOWN by?? Things have been seriously insane here. BUT, it’s OK because I have VERY exciting news to share with you next week. I can’t wait!!

So, in the meantime, I have a Family Fun Day recap from yesterday!!

It was C’s week to pick the dinner and activity. He chose carving pumpkins for the activity and breadsticks for dinner. Breadsticks? Hehe. Made me laugh. He’s a carb-aholic, just like his mama.

The boys don’t take their pumpkin carving lightly. I think it took them a week just to pick their designs!

First things first: trace the stencil:

Carefully cut out the top (and get dangerously close to the puggle with an insanely big knife!):

Scoop out the insides (but keep the seeds!):

And while the boys started working on the carving:

Mom made some pretty amazing garlic rolls:

(It was dark already by the time these were done, so these are the best shots I could get.)

That Annie sure knows what she’s doing. These were delicious!

And don’t worry, we didn’t just have bread for dinner (though, I can’t say I haven’t done that before!). We had big salads to go with the rolls.

After dinner the carving got moved inside since it was dark and cold in the porch. Don’t they look cute sitting at the counter on those stools?

C does all his own carving – no help from the adults for this 3rd grader!

Final product:

Can you guess what they are?? It took me a long time to get the one on the left – J had to tell me (and then SHOW me because I still couldn’t see it!). But, then again, I can be a little slow sometimes……

Did you carve pumpkins this year? If so, do you do the traditional pumpkin face, or more intricate designs like these?

Hey kids!

I contemplated doing a brief honeymoon post to round out the wedding re-caps, but I needed a break from all the wedding stuff right now. But, tell me, would you want to see a honeymoon post? Or no? I won’t be offended!

Ok, enough wedding talk. This past week was exciting, it was Team Challenge‘s recommitment week!! Recommitment is when the participants decide once and for all if they are committing to raising the money and running the half marathon on December 5th.

This is pretty amazing, but 25 participants recommitted!!!! That is the MOST our Northeast Ohio Chapter has EVER seen! I was so, so excited to get the news. And the most exciting news of all……..

MY SISTER RECOMMITTED!!!!!!!!  :)

Remember this?

Well, Amanda fell in love with running and decided to join our Team! She has promised to raise $3,900 for the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation and run her 2nd half marathon this year! If you’d like to help out our Team, and help my sister get to Vegas, you can donate here:

http://www.active.com/donate/lv10neohio/LVASimpso

This disease affects more than 1.4 million Americans. Almost 90% of the participants who have recommitted either have the disease or are doing this for a family member. I am so completely inspired by my Team – I want to do everything I can to help find a cure as I have seen first hand what it’s like to live with this disease.

So, Sunday was week 9 of training, and 80 minutes was on the schedule. I know I’m going to jinx myself, but we have been SO LUCKY with the weather this season:

I mean, really. You can’t complain about your early Sunday morning training run when this is your view.

It was finally our first week to work on mid-run fueling. I had brought a cooler for everyone’s drinks and left it at the beginning of our run.

We ran out 30 minutes and back, took a quick drink/fuel break, and ran the other direction on the trail for 10 minutes and back.

What’s so great about this training program is that everyone runs at their own pace. Plus, we have so many participants that almost everyone has a training partner. I try to just run back and forth, and run with everyone to catch up and also see how they’re feeling.

Well, I also like to push the people who I know can use a little nudge. Jeff and I were coming to the end (with about a quarter mile left) and I started to pick up the pace. I told him to use his arms to help get him to the finish. Well, Jeff-O considered this a challenge and started to take off. This guy sure has some kick!! I couldn’t keep up!!

Luckily J was there to document the finish (please note the sarcasm).

This was our most fun training run to date. Our little “race” to the finish really lifted everyone’s spirits, as they were all cheering us on. High fives were given all around and Jeff and I tried not to keel over.

Every week that goes by we all just get closer and closer. This is an amazing group of people. I know I say this all the time, but I really am SO LUCKY to have this job. Some of these people had never run 1 mile before and now they’re running 80 minutes (7 to 8.5 miles for most)!! I’m extremely proud to say maybe I had a part in that.

So, if you’d like to contribute to Team Challenge (and my sis!), please click the link above to donate. No donation to too small!! We appreciate you even considering it!

Is anyone else running the Las Vegas Half Marathon on December 5th? If not, what races do you have coming up??

Thank you so much for all the nice comments on yesterday’s post! I was going to give you a brief intermission from all the lovey dovey posts today, but I started browsing through the pictures and couldn’t help wanting to share more!

When we left off I was about to walk down the aisle.

We had roughly 65 people at our wedding. It was held in the same room as the reception and our guests sat at the tables they would be eating at. It was perfect.

The ceremony was short and sweet – J and I actually wrote the whole thing ourselves. I received so many compliments on the ceremony and how personal it was. Just what I was going for.

I especially love this picture of the 3 of us right after:

Doesn’t C look so sweet?

We took a few posed pictures, but nothing specific. Out goal was for the pictures to be more “raw”, more “us” I guess. Here are a few of my favorites:

First up after pictures? Cake. Anyone who knows me knows I take my cake seriously. And this was seriously delicious. We let C pick the flavors, and he picked well! The bottom layer was strawberry with buttercream, the middle layer was lemon with lemon curd, and the top (for us to take home) was chocolate with peanut butter filling. It was amazing. I know this because I ate that night. I was not one of those brides “too busy to eat”. NO WAY! I’m gonna eat and enjoy the food just like everyone else.

We had the obligatory first dance, but everything else about our wedding was pretty non-traditional. I didn’t want any posed photos or mandatory dances – just fun, fun, fun!!!

And that is what we had.

Go big, right? Hehe.

I ain’t gonna lie, the party was pretty EPIC (and I hate that word!).

This was seriously the fastest night of my life. Before I knew it, the shuttles to go back to the hotel were leaving!

If our wedding night was any indicator of how the rest our life together is going to be (full of love, laughter, and fun), then we are in for an amazing ride.

Here’s to millions more!!

If you’re married, tell me about your wedding. Was it traditional? Big? Small? If you’re not married, do you know what you want your wedding to be like?

Dear J,

I’d ask where the past 2 years have gone, but I know where. These past 2 years have been filled with love, tears, joy, and heartache. But most of all love. I still remember that day so clearly.

Waking up with my best friends and being so excited to start the day.

I remember how happy and excited C was with you.

But how nervous he was when we were getting dressed.

I remember thinking right then and there what a great stepdad you were going to be. And how lucky C was to be gaining another dad. Your present to me that day pretty much summed up how you felt, too.

I remember getting dressed and feeling the most beautiful I have ever felt.

I knew you would look great, but I had no idea you were going to look this handsome (that’s a compliment, hon).

I remember getting so anxious that I tried to take a peak at what was going on and getting shooed back inside.

Until they let us come together for a “touch, but don’t look” photo only.

I remember my dad being a rock for me that day, more than he had ever been my entire life.

And my best friends holding my hands through the waiting.

Little did I know that this was going to be the fastest (and most fun!) night of my life.

When it was time, the girls left me and my dad to wait our turn. I had to take a minute to calm my nerves and put the tears away.

Then the door opened.

And we were about to officially become a family………

Part II Coming This Week!

Hey, friends! How was the weekend?

I’m loving the changing of seasons right now. Though, I have to say, it’s getting cold pretty fast in CLE. Friday evening was especially chilly, as you can tell by the gloves I had to wear on my walk with Allison!

Btw, aren’t our pups the cutest??

But Saturday was perfect Fall weather. So J and I grabbed the chance (you never know what the weather’s going to do here!) to take a day trip down to a hiking trail I heard about from a friend (thanks, Christina!).

Despite being overcast and gloomy, it was a great day.

And we made the most of it!

I walked down the cliff to get closer to the waterfall….

…….and soon after all the other hikers were making there way down, too. What can I say, I’m such the trailblazer….

Since the purpose of our Saturday was to spend the day together since our two anniversary is TOMORROW, we had to stop and make our mark:

Awwwwwwwwwww…………….doesn’t that just make you wanna throw up? Hehe.

We got a little brave and went off the path to find the other waterfall we could hear in the distance.

Where J proceeded to climb a tree.

Safe, right?

Ahhhhh……much better.

Instead of climbing fallen trees, I play on abandoned plows:

And try to hang on trees definitely not sturdy enough to hold a girl my size.

That tree may or may not have snapped back at me when I let go. Luckily J wasn’t paying attention with the camera.

We wanted to do something fun and active for our anniversary, but not expensive. This was perfect! Maybe next year it will be in the budget to do something more extravagant, but for this year this was it. I couldn’t have asked for more. I love this guy:

Wedding re-caps coming this week!

How do you enjoy the Fall weather (if you’re somewhere that you get seasons)?

I’m just going to admit it now. J and I have an ice cream addiction. A serious ice cream addiction. One that I don’t think can ever be broken, and I’m not sure I want it to be, to be honest. Whoever created ice cream is a genius.

I’m a sweets person through and through. I will never pick chips and dip over cookies, cake, or ice cream. So, anytime we go out of town we try to seek out the local ice cream places (seriously, sometimes I think we travel just for the ice cream!!).

So way back in June when I registered for the Columbus race I knew we HAD to seek out Jeni’s. I have heard so many good things about this place from my Columbus blogger friends, and it’s also been on the Food Network’s Best Thing I Ever Ate.

On our walk to dinner after the expo on Saturday we walked right past Jeni’s. Score! It’s really pretty ridiculous how excited we get about ice cream. I think all three of us were thinking about it during dinner.

You know it’s going to be good when there’s a line out the door.

We were a bit overwhelmed when we saw all the flavors.

So the first thing I asked was “Can we sample?” And when the guy working the counter replied, “Yes, as much as you want!”, I knew we were in the right place.

First thing on the list: Heirloom Pumpkin 5-Spice!

It was good, but a little too “pumpkin-y” for me (weird, considering I love pumpkin)?

I ended up with two signature flavors:

Both of these were phenomenal. I couldn’t have asked for me. The ice cream was so creamy and rich!

J got the Queen City Cayenne flavor that was featured on Food Network. The guy working the counter told us this was the very first flavor Jeni ever created. J LOVED it. The heat kinda hits your tongue after you swallow – it tasted almost like those little red hot candies, but in ice cream form!

The 3 of us all got different flavors, but all our cones looked the same!

Ever wonder what an 8 year old looks like after eating dark chocolate ice cream?

Hmmmm………I think he liked it.

Do you have a favorite ice cream or frozen yogurt joint? Please share!!! That may have to be our next vacation destination….

Hey there! How is everyone? I’m surprisingly doing really well! My leg and knee feel pretty great considering I ran a 10k on Saturday, half marathon on Sunday, and then taught Group Step yesterday. Luckily I had a sub for my class tonight so I could have a rest day.

Anyways, back to the race recap. This could be long, so I apologize in advance. I get excited about race recaps and I’m going to do my best!

The last I left off I was just crossing the start line. I knew J and C couldn’t be far since they hadn’t left me long before the start but I really had no idea. About a mile into the race I peeled off my long sleeve shirt and held onto it to pass off to J. I kept scanning the crowd and luckily saw them about a quarter mile later. I know a lot of people throw their shirts away, but I worked hard for that race shirt! I don’t care how old it is.

Check out how congested the race was. It was like this the ENTIRE time!

I was still feeling out my stomach at this point to see how hard I could push myself. I didn’t really explain in my post yesterday, but I have digestive issues. It has taken me the past 6 to 8 months to realize that I need digestive enzymes (a topic for another day). Well, last week I ran out of my pills and didn’t replace them until 3 days had passed. Things have been going so well the past month or so that I just figured I’d be fine without them until I got my butt to the pharmacy. Dumb move on my part. Lesson learned.

I had no idea when I’d see J or C again so I tried to ignore the rock in my stomach and just enjoy myself. I like running races that I’ve never run before because it makes the time go by so much faster. There’s so much to see!

The first 6 miles or so I felt like I was being passed left and right. I kept looking at my watch to see if I was lagging, but I was running in the low 9′s, which is a good pace for me. I couldn’t figure it out! My only explanation is that I should have been in Corral 3 instead of 2. So instead of feeling sorry for myself I used them for motivation!

My stomach cramped up real bad at mile 6, so I decided to start taking Gatorade at the water stops.

It was total chaos! But at this point I really didn’t care so I elbowed my way through to the volunteers. I’m not kidding you, I can still taste this Gatorade. Hands down, the BEST Gatorade I’ve ever had. I don’t usually like Gatorade so I must have been really dehydrated!!

I pulled out my phone right around this point and J had just texted me to say they were around mile 6.75. My heart did a little flutter because I knew that was right around the corner since I had just passed the 6 mile marker. I was searching high and low for their bright green shirts (and even waved to someone I thought was him!), but kept getting let down. I passed the mile 7 marker and my heart sank. I was convinced I had missed them, and was almost in tears. I know this sounds dramatic, but their faces are seriously what get me through these long races. As I was just about to pull out my phone to see if I had for sure missed them, there they were!!

J had miscalculated and they were actually at mile 7.25 (not 6.75)! I yelled out “I Love You!” to C and the lady in the blue sports bra next to me said “That’s sweet. What a great relationship.” Made me smile.

After that I knew I was on my own til the finish. My splits were still in the low 9′s and I was surprising myself. I mean, my stomach was hard as a rock, bloated beyond belief, and I was running a good race!

That is, until the last 2 miles. I guess since Columbus knows their course is pretty flat, they decided to challenge the runners with 2 hills at the end of the race. The first started around mile 11.5 and the other around 12.75. The second was a killer! Luckily once we reached the top of that hill it was all downhill to the finish line!

I was so excited to see the boys with less than .2 to go!

See me in the middle fighting my way between the 2 blue shirts?

Official finish time? 2:03:50

Not bad for little to no training (which I DON’T recommend, btw).

Is it weird that after the race they were handing out bananas, but they were cutting them in half? Ew. I passed. Open, mushy bananas are not appealing to me.

My thoughts? It’s no wonder this course is great for wanna-be Boston Qualifiers. It’s fast and (mostly) flat! The volunteers and spectators are incredible. They just need to put some more time and thought into the expo and this will be a winner all around!

I’m curious to know that if my stomach had been 100% if I would have PR’d? I bet so. Bummer.

So, here’s another new tech shirt and medal for my wall. We’ve been working on an “inspirational wall” at the house – I can’t wait to show it off once it’s done!

I know this post is beyond long, but I wanted to share my mile splits:

• Mile 1 = 9:30
• Mile 2 = 9:21
• Mile 3 = 9:11
• Mile 4 = 9:25
• Mile 5 = 9:14
• Mile 6 = 9:07 (!!)
• Mile 7 = 9:28
• Mile 8 = 9:36
• Mile 9 = 9:11
• Mile 10 = 9:24
• Mile 11 = 9:29
• Mile 12 = 9:45 (Hill!)
• Mile 13 = 9:33
• Last .19 (yes, .19, not .10) = 8:25

You can’t say I’m not consistent, that’s for sure!

So, if you’re wondering, my stomach is almost back to 100%. I bet (hope) by tomorrow I’ll be back to normal.

Hope you enjoyed the recap (for those of you still reading)!

Have you ever slacked in training for a race or event? How did you do?

Hey guys!

Thanks for all the nice comments on Team Challenge and the 10k. I’m really a lucky girl to be part of the Team!

So, after the race Saturday morning I headed home to shower and pack since we were leaving for Columbus as soon as we were all ready (J and C had been at a soccer game while I was racing!). It was a little chaotic but, then again, when isn’t it in our household?

Our hotel ended up being right across the street from the expo so we quickly dropped off our stuff and walked over. The first order of business was meeting this lovely lady:

Andrea and Scott were on their way out so we only got to say a quick hello/goodbye, but it was so nice to see her again! She was picking up her race packet to run the half, too.

I have to be honest and say that the expo was pretty lame. We were in and out in record time. But I really enjoyed how excited the city was about the race:

I totally dig the race motto, btw!

So, here’s when things started to go downhill. I’m not sure what I ate Saturday night that upset my belly so bad, but the food did NOT sit well with me. Ugh, it was horrible. I barely slept Saturday night because I was so nervous about my stomach. I managed to wake up on time (we were only a few blocks from the start line so we didn’t have to leave too early). But I basically had to shove the oatmeal down my throat because my stomach was still bloated and killing me. Plus I forgot to bring a spoon so I had to improvise:

Hehe.

Despite my tummy troubles, we got dressed and took some pre-race photos:

Then we headed down to the start line. It was pretty chilly, maybe 50 degrees? Luckily I didn’t have to wait around too long for the race to start. This was probably the most convenient race I have ever been to. By the time I got into my corral, I only had 10 minutes until 7:30! This gave me just enough time to text my friends and catch up on twitter.

Unfortunately I never got a chance to meet up with any of my friends before the race started. There were just too many people! Out of the 8 other people running the race that I knew, none of them really ran my pace anyways, so it was fine. I was just going to have to deal with running by myself (so not fun).

I actually wasn’t too far from the start line so after the countdown and fireworks (awesome!), it only took me about 2 and a half minutes to cross the start line.

I said a quick prayer and asked the Big Guy to take care of my stomach issues for the next two hours and started running. No turning back now…….

Part II coming next – my recap of the actual race!

Have you ever experienced tummy troubles before a race or workout? How did you handle it?

Wow, this has been one heck of a weekend! Let me start with Saturday morning……

Instead of our normal weekly training run, yesterday morning Team Challenge participated in a local 10k. The Midtown Healthline Classic, to be exact.

I was up bright and early like usual.

Of course the boys were still sleeping!

If you can’t tell, it was a little chilly before the race:

But it ended up being PERFECT running weather! This race was to help gain some race experience for the members of the Team who have never run a race before. I think this was a great way to introduce racing for multiple reasons:

1. It was a small, local race which made it easy to find and to pick up registration
2. Those not already registered didn’t have any problems
3. The race officials were available and extremely helpful when approached with questions
4. Much more personable!

After a little fun at the start line:

We were off!!

Btw, check out Alicia and her husband, Hans in the picture above. They did GREAT!!

I think everyone had a great time and met their goals, whether it be to run the entire 10k or just to finish.

This race was actually a lot of fun. We were all joking around (and I totally beat Ryan to the turn around, just sayin….) and high fiving each other the entire race. I really hope it was a good experience for the Team. I really want them to feel confident when we go to Las Vegas on December 5th!!

Here’s almost everyone afterwards (the walkers were still out doin their thing):

Lookin good for just running 6.2 miles!

I’m so proud of everyone. They really rocked it out Saturday morning. I can’t wait for them to experience Vegas!!

After the race I had to rush home, shower, and pack. We were headed to Columbus for the Columbus Half Marathon (today). Two races in two days for me! Recap coming tomorrow. Right now I have a date with Mr. Foam Roller. And then my couch.

Hope everyone had a great weekend! What did you do that was FUN??

Once you become a parent, you quickly learn that you have to be flexible and be able to “go with the flow”. Last night at 9:00 C came flying out of his room and said, “Mom, I forgot but tomorrow is Muffins With Mom. Can you come?”. Heavy sigh…… My response? “Of course, honey.”

But in my mind I was thinking, “Oh my gosh, how am I going to do this? October 15th is on Friday and my biggest deadline of the year!” But when I saw his face this morning when I came down the stairs it was all worth it. There’s no better feeling in the world than making your kid happy.

Ready to go!

(horrible picture, I know…..the lighting was awful and I was tired!)

We got there early so we would miss the long line.

C was ready for some grub. As soon as they said we could eat he was out of his seat and headed to the line (that’s my boy!!).

I was actually pretty impressed that they had fresh fruit and yogurt available, and that they placed it at the front of the line. At least then the kids had the option to grab something healthy before they reached the donuts, muffins, and strudel (oh my!).

I can’t say our school is the smartest when planning events, though, because today was also picture day. Not so smart when kids are eating chocolate donuts for breakfast.

Luckily he kept the chocolate on his face instead of on his clothes.

As soon as his friends starting arriving I was pretty much non-existent anymore.

He let me take a few more pics and then he was off to hang with his friends.

This is such a great age. Even though he’s growing up and much more independent now, he still likes to hang with his mom. Now I just pray that this lasts until I’m old and gray……..

On the workout front, I taught Group Power at the gym tonight. I went easy on my legs since I’m headed out of town this weekend for the Columbus Half Marathon, but my chest is ON FIRE! Two and a half hours later and it’s still burnin – now that’s a good workout.

So, how bout you? Are you a “go with the flow” kind of person, or do you like routine?