The Kennett Run!

A few weekends ago, The Son and I took part in the Kennett Run, a local race that is very well known in our area. They have a 5K, a 10K and a kids 1 miler. Last year it was the very first race I did and I did the 5K. This year, I decided on the 10K. I had some neighbor friends who told me they were doing the 10K but never actually decided to sign up for it. I joked that they were afraid to be beaten by a girl, which I think I found a lot funnier than they did. Turns out though, that I did beat them. They only did the 5K and if you doubled their times, they would have been longer than my finishing time. I finished the 10K in 1:01:50! I was thrilled, I know that's not a terribly fast time, but it is under ten minute miles the whole way, so for me, that's great! I'd also like to add that the Kennett Run is notoriously hilly... HILLY! I train on hills around my house but they didn't prepare me for the inclines of this particular course. I took advantage of the downhill and really sped up when I could. I have a few pictures to share with you...

Here I am with The Son, walking to the start line (for me) and then stretching before the race.



Not my most attractive angle but The Son looks cute...


Here I am waiting for it to start, the 10Kers started first and then the 5Kers followed. The Son's 1 mile kid race was later in the park.


Here I am after finishing... I was HOT and irritable, can you tell?

And here I am last year... Can you see the difference? Last year, I finished the 5K in 38:50 which at that time I was quite pleased with, it's a respectable time.

So that's the Kennett Run for me in a nutshell, I have some shots of The Son doing the kids' one miler that I'll post next week.

Have a great weekend everyone! And thanks to my few loyal readers and comment leavers. You know who you are and I hope you know how much I appreciate you!

Where's the Son? SON? AHHHHHH?

Yesterday, I told you about The Son dressing up like a Big, Bad Bullybug for Book Day at his school. You can see how scary he was in the picture above. You can also see how visible and conspicuous he was, hard to miss, don't ya think?

Well, it was raining that afternoon so I decided to pick him up at the bus stop, usually, he walks home from the bus stop because I can see it from our house and I just watch for him by looking out the window. Thank goodness, that's not what I did on this particular day.

I got out of my car as the bus drove up and I watched the throngs of children come off the bus, we have a lot of kids in our neighborhood and I'd say that approximately 15 of them are on The Son's bus. They all got off and I scanned the crowd for The Son, as I was scanning the crowd, the bus drove away and The. Son. Wasn't. There.

I became frantic, wracked my brain thinking, "Was I supposed to pick him up today?" I quickly asked the other kids if he had been on the bus and thankfully, they replied, "Yeah, I think so, he was in his bug costume, right?" I then asked them why no one thought to bring him with them as they got off the bus, I mean really, how could you miss a Kindergarten Kid in a silver bug costume? I then realized that The Son was probably panicking himself right about then.

By this time, the mom in the car behind me had called the school and passed her phone to me, it was nice that someone else was thinking clearly. The school phoned the bus company who contacted the bus driver and I got word that The Son was safe and would be dropped off on the bus driver's trip back around in about 20 minutes! I swear, it was a long 20 minutes but soon enough, the bus came driving back up the street and I got out as The Son exited the bus. He was crying and running toward me with all six legs outstretched and waving in the rainy breeze. I scooped him up and hug, hug, hugged him. He was so sweet, telling me how much he missed me and how the older kids on the bus, "cared for him." He told me that one girl offered him some goldfish crackers and made sure that he felt OK. I came to find out that it was a substitute bus driver which I think led to the problem and is part of the reason he didn't get off at his stop. The other reason can be blamed on the classic rock group, Queen.

"Queen?" you ask.

Yes, Queen!

When we both calmed down and got home, I was holding The Son on my lap and asked him to tell me what happened. He said, they were doing "WE WILL, WE WILL, ROCK YOU!" on the bus and he didn't realize that all his friends weren't there until he turned around to talk to his little friend Josh and he was gone. He started crying again while telling me this story and then said, "The bus driver told me he would bring me back home later, and I was so scared and then the big kids cared for me and I started to feel better but Momma, I missed you so much."

What a day! I was so relieved that he was safe and secretly found the "We Will ROCK You" story a tad bit funny. I will not hesitate to refer to this incident the next time The Son gets mad at me and tells me I'm a mean Momma although I haven't had to use it yet. ;)

All in all, it turned out just fine, The Son hasn't forgotten to get off the bus since that day and I doubt it will happen again any time soon as long as the kids don't start channeling Freddy Mercury again.

Have a great Thursday my friends! I'm getting weighed today and I'm not expecting a great result, it's been a tough week as far as healthy eating... I'll let you know!

Don't Bug Me!

A couple weeks ago, The Son had "Reading Week" at school, each day was filled with special activities focusing around reading. The best day, according to The Son, was the day they got to dress up like a character in a book,my boy LOVES a costume. I don't think all parents did this but I told The Son that it had to be a character that was in a book first, like it couldn't be Bakugan or Sponge Bob or someone that books were written about but had to be more from Childrens' Literature. He decided to be a "Big Bad Bullybug" from Ed Emberly's "Bye Bye Big Bad Bullybug."

I used silver dance costume/bathing suit fabric and traced around The Son to make the base of the costume. The Son and I stuffed knee highs with fiber fill to make the legs and I attached them to the sides of the costume, it was a little tricky but I used fishing line to string the legs together so that they would attach to his wrists and be able to stick out straight at the sides.

We used foam sheets and pipe cleaners to create the Itty-Bitty-Babybugs in the book and also attached them to the costume and lastly, I took an old pair of sunglasses and attached some more foam pieces to make the Bullybug's three eyes with some more pipe cleaners as the antennae.


He was so proud of his costume and he looked so cute. We had a great time making this together and he was so excited to ride the bus the next day, he said everyone liked his costume and told me about some of the other kids' choices. I have to say, it sounded like his was the most creative. ;)


Later that day, we had some real excitement, excitement I hope to never have again...

I'll tell you more about that tomorrow, thanks for visiting today and I hope you enjoyed my Big Bad Bullybug Boy! Happy Wednesday!

Broad Street Run-- Race Recap part 3 (finally)

I finally seem to have recovered from the GI issues I had about a week ago. I'm feeling WAY better and I realized that I need to post my final post about the Broad Street Run. If you'd like to read the first two parts, you can scroll down a post or two to find them, they're right there.

We last left off when the three of us were heading to bed to get some sleep before the race, we got in from dinner a little later than we wanted to and 5:00 AM seemed to come WAY too fast. We were staying at a Residence Inn which has a kitchenette, this was great for us so we didn't have to head out to find some nourishment really early. We cooked up our bagels and brewed the coffee and enjoyed. After eating breakfast, we got dressed in our race gear and posed for the obligatory pictures.

We headed down to the lobby, checked our bags with the front desk because we were moving to a different hotel for the next night (don't ask.) and we headed out to meet the BIL at the subway a couple blocks away, it was 6:30 AM.

We got to the subway and met up with BIL, headed down and ran into hundreds of other runners heading to Philadelphia's Central High School for the start of the race. It was pretty incredible. It took about 25 minutes on the (very crowded) subway, we were packed in and standing but my excitement was so high that I didn't even mind.

When we got to the field, we looked to find our starting corrals, I was in pink, the last corral and the others had corrals, much closer to the front, I didn't let it get me down though, I was going to enjoy this experience with our without them. It seemed like a long time until the race was actually starting, we waited in line for the port-a-potties and participated in the group warm up which was actually quite fun. I enjoyed watching the HUGE group of people, all with the same goal, stretching, moving and getting pumped up. FUN!

Finally, it was time to line up. I had a can of pineapple with me because I like to eat pineapple before I run so I found a spot in my corral and cracked open my pineapple. Each corral took off in turn and about 40 minutes after the start of the race, it was the pink corral's turn to GO!

I started off at a very slow pace, listening to Carrie Underwood sing, "Before he Cheats" which I know is about a 5.1 on a treadmill, as the crowds around me thinned out, I was able to run a little faster but I never went too fast as I knew I couldn't keep up a fast pace for ten miles.

I was really enjoying my run through the city, we passed Shriner's Hospital for Children which is where my mother worked for years and I silently talked to her in my mind, I knew she'd be proud of me. We passed Temple University where The Sister and the BIL went to school and then we passed by Broad and Diamond which was the main intersection near Frederick Douglass Elementary School where I used to teach. Memories came flooding back, some good, some not so good but I could see City Hall WAAAAAAY in front of me so I kept running.

Did I mention it was getting hot? Really hot? I mentioned that last year's Broad St. Run was really chilly, well this year it was supposed to be close to 90 and it was approaching that temperature quickly. I don't mind the heat, in fact I like it but I hadn't trained in hot weather at all. I made sure to stop at every water stop to stay hydrated and because I was running behind thousands and thousands of other runners, there were wet cups all over the ground causing a slightly slippery situation for those of us who might be a bit more clumsy than others and by that I mean, ME! I had to slow to a walk at a couple points but I just kept telling myself that I had to make it through 10 miles and a little walking would be fine. The fire hydrants were open and every once in a while, I ran through the edge of that too to get a little spritz.


When I passed City Hall, I knew that I had approximately 4 more miles to go, I was more than half way there! This is when it got hard, it was hot and I was getting tired but I just kept going, slow and steady finishes the race...


Miles 7, 8 and 9 were actually kind of fun because this is when we were heading in to South Philly, the spectators that were there were very encouraging, I slapped hands with lots of little kids who were there watching and they helped keep me going. I started to get very emotional as I neared the Naval Yard, the end of the race. The ships on the river were beautiful and even though it was close to 90 degrees, the breeze off the river felt really good. I did see a few people who had collapsed and had emergency personnel helping them out, I felt surprisingly good considering...

As I crossed the finish line, I got extremely emotional and started to cry! I had done it. It took me one hour and 54 minutes but I had done a ten mile race! HOORAY!

In hindsight, I think it went well, I am proud of myself, it was an awesome race and I will definitely do it again next year. It would be nice if it's not 90 degrees next year but for me, I think 90 and sunny is better than 53 and rainy like it was last year but I'm sure many would disagree with me. I leave you for now, I have a few more thoughts and pictures that I'll share in my next post. It's Wednesday, one of my busy days and I need to start getting ready to tackle the day. Have a good one friends!

Sidelined...

Hi Friends! That is if any of you are still out there... I know I haven't been around much lately, I've been feeling less than spectacular to say the least. The Son had some kind of GI/viral? issue on Mother's Day and I think he gave it to me, nice present huh? NOT! I've been having issues that make me feel not very well, let's just leave it at that.

I did a race last weekend and did really well so I want to tell you about that, I also lost more weight but of course, that could be because of this illness. I've only worked out once in this whole week so you know, I am not feeling well. I am going to try to head to the gym this afternoon when I put The Son on the bus and at least do some weights and a light cardio work out. Wish me luck, it could be ugly.

Have a great Friday everyone!

Broad Street Run-- Race Recap part 2

Hi Friends! If you want to read part 1 of my race recap, click here first. Also, to my anonymous commenter... Thank you so much for your sweet comments, do I know you? Are you always the same person who is commenting? I do appreciate your comments (since you are one of the only ones who's been commenting) but I'd love to know if I actually know you.

So, when we last left off we were talking about heading to dinner, we had already taken the time to set up our clothes for the next day, organize our pre-race breakfasts and everything that we would need to bring with us when we left the hotel at 6AM.

Here's my race day breakfast, an Asiago Cheese Bagel from Panera Bread with light cream cheese. I also eat a can of pineapple but didn't take a picture of that. ;) I think the only reason I do races is to give myself license to eat a bagel now and again. I used to love bagels but really watch how often I eat them now because bagels = lots of calories!

Here's all our race gear lined up and ready for the next morning.

...and here is the "view" from our room, not terribly beautiful but we didn't care.

After all our organizing... we left for dinner.

I'm disappointed with myself that I didn't take any pictures of me and my friend Stacy, I wasn't thinking, in my defense, I was preoccupied with the race the next day. We met up with The Brother-in-Law who was also doing the race, let's call him Dr. BIL. We didn't have reservations and in hind sight, we should have but we ended up finding a little pizza/wine restaurant in Center City Philly called Zavino. I liked my pizza but wasn't overly impressed with the place as far as service and menu over all. I had the Kennett Pizza which I thought was very fitting for me since I live near Kennett Square, PA, the mushroom capital of the world! The Kennett Pizza had bechamel sauce and three different kinds of mushrooms on it and it was yummy! I also had one glass of wine. The "salad" of mixed greens was lousy, it was truly a few different kinds of leaves on a plate with some vinaigrette poured over it. Not. Impressed. I wouldn't go here again and wouldn't recommend it, it was kind of meh.

After dinner, we headed across the street to Capogiro Gelato. If I didn't need the carbs for my run the next day, I could have skipped dinner and had just gelato. Oh. My. Goodness. It's fantastic there. I had been there before but it's been a long time. If you're not familiar with gelato or think you like pieces of stuff in your ice cream so you won't like gelato, let me just tell you, gelato is not ice cream, it's a completely different experience and so darn delicious! I had the dark chocolate, coconut and nutella flavors. Those are not the Italian names that they have at the shop but I can't remember the Italian names. Evidently, they have a Sea Salt flavor that tastes great with the Dark Chocolate but they were out of it... next time. Chrissy Cuz and Dr. BIL also loved the gelato and I think we all had similar choices for flavors. YUM!

So, after dinner, we headed back to our hotel, Dr. BIL went his way, back to his hotel, we said goodbye to Stacy and we went to get some much-needed sleep, we knew that 5 AM would be here WAY too soon.

It was so fantastic to see Stacy, it had been years since we saw each other and I'm glad that we've rekindled our friendship. We used to work at The Marriott together and those were some fun and crazy times... Love you Stacy!

Well, I'll stop with my recap for now and tell you about the actual race the next time. I have to get ready for a meeting with my boss/guru and have to get The Son ready for school. Have a great Friday everyone! Please leave a comment if you stop by and let me know who you are!

'Twas the Night Before Broad Street... a recap part 1

It's about time... I know, I just haven't been motivated to post and I was waiting for the Broad St. Run pictures to be posted and they finally have been. I can't post my individual picture but I will be ordering it and I'll scan it so that I can eventually post it, let me tell you, I look SO pretty in it. NOT! LOL!

So, onto to the Race Recap...

My friends and I checked into our hotel on the afternoon before the race and headed right to the Expo to pick up our packets and bib numbers. The photo above is of the three of us waiting for the "shuttle bus" to arrive. It was a hot day and I was looking forward to sitting down and relaxing on the bus, that is until I saw a yellow school bus pull around the corner. I looked at my cousin and said, "This is not looking good." Sure enough, the school bus was in fact, the shuttle bus that was going to take us to the stadium where the expo was being held. It was hot but not as bad as I thought it would be once the bus got moving.

We got our packets, picked up our free t-shirts which are pretty cute, and then browsed through the vendors. I have to say, I was disappointed with the shirts they had available for purchase because although the shirt was kind of cute, it was emblazoned with "Modell's Sports" logo on the back. It was like a giant red and white bumper sticker and was not at all attractive. Now, if this was on the free shirt, I'd have no problem with that, but for $20 I don't want ugly advertisements on my shirt. Sorry Modell's but I'm not paying $20 to be free advertising for you. I would have certainly bought it otherwise because it was a pretty nice moisture wicking shirt... maybe if the ad was a little more subtle?

Anyway, we headed back and took a few shots of Center City Philadelphia, especially Broad Street. I was in awe that I would be running down it the following day!

We went to the Municipal building where they have lots of giant Game Pieces that we posed with. Here's Chrissy Cuz on the top hat from Monopoly and me with a "Sorry" piece. Cherie posed with a mini-Philly Phanatic instead of a game piece.



Here's a cool shot of City Hall, I met a cute guy here back in 1992...

and no... I don't mean William Penn.

We soon got back to the hotel to organize our things and get ready to go out to dinner with an old friend. I'll tell you more about that in my next post...