cara box reveal

im so excited to do my cara box exchange reveal tonight! (kinda late since i was at work and couldnt do it from there). i joined the cara box exchange for the first time this month from wifessionals and i cant wait to continue to do so in the upcoming year! it was a great way to get to know new people and i got awesome gifts (and hope that tina liked what i sent her!)

cara box is about meeting new people and sending encouragement. i had such a great time getting to know who i was paired up with and putting together my box. the theme for august was "seasons of life" and was based on your age and stage of life. i was in the "30s with children" stage, as were who i was paired with. i sent my box to tina and got my box from liz. we all were able to email back and forth,  read each others blogs, and get to know one another. fun!!

i was so excited when i opened up my box (which was huge by the way!)...

first thing i saw... chips! mmmmm

lots of stuff for henry

and yummy deliciousness for myself!

clearly liz did an awesome job... i love chips, obviously. and although the chocolate had melted on the way, i put it in the freezer and it was awesome! (and i had almost gotten those for tina's box... now i wish i had!)

the stuff for henry was so cute... i especially loved the tooth fairy pillow and a five year hand print making kit. thank you so much, liz!!! cant wait until the next box theme comes out! go check out the cara box exchange if you want to get involved!

the most boring race recap ever

last wednesday (yes, almost a week ago now) was the last of the back cove 5k series races for me. there is one left tomorrow but i have to work. im sad i cant go to the awards, surely they would be giving me one for being awesome and running a bunch of 5ks after having a baby. duh.

as per the norm, kristal and i complained the entire drive to the race. why do we keep going back? its hot. i dont wanna run. my legs hurt. etc. etc. etc. i had 7 miles on the schedule so i did a little over 4 before the race started, then ran the race (comfortably, 25:32), then finished up a little more to make 8 miles. i came in 57th out of 130 runners for the night. not too shabby. and along the way my friend jamie ran by me the other way and we gave each other a high five. fun!

each week at the finish line they hand out a shirt to a few runners... and this week i got one! i had had a dream about getting one, and how fitting that it happened at my last race! they actually tried to give one to kristal, who finished right ahead of me, but she had already gotten one a few weeks ago so she declined. you'd think they would then offer it to the next runner, right? well he didnt say anything! i just came running through the finish and walked over to kristal to get water. she said "did he give you the shirt i declined?" and i said "NO!" so i casually walked back over to him, he looked at me and laughed... 

"have you gotten a shirt yet this series?" 

"no i havent"

"do you want one?" 

"OF COURSE I DO!!"

and it fits and its comfy. yay!

the end of back cove 5k series, thank god.

henry: three months!

weight 

we havent had a doctors appointment in awhile, and our next one is in a few weeks, so i weighed him on our scale... just over 13lbs!

chubba wubba!

health

still seems to be a very healthy baby (knock on wood). he gets pretty nasally sometimes... good thing moms a respiratory therapist and loves to suck out the boogies! (henry isnt a huge fan but he lets me... i think they are from the formula)

clothes 

it depends on the brand (seems like carters runs small), but henry is definitely in the 3-6, if not 6 month clothes. the other night i put on a pair of 3 month pajamas with the fun animal feet on him that he had never worn before... i couldnt even let him sleep in them because he couldnt stretch out his legs all the way. hes very long! he also got a new tshirt from grandma and grandpa speckman... hank aaron!

sleep

still sleeping very well at night and taking two pretty good length naps during the day (sometimes). we put him in his crib somewhere between 8 and 9 and he will start to stir around 5-6am. he loves to fight falling asleep during the day and he is a really good sleeper in the car.

crying

still not really a crier. wet or hungry though, he will let us know (and wont stop until you feed or change him). overall a very happy baby!

milestones

lots of smiling, tyler heard him laugh the other day (but we have yet to hear it again), and he is almost rolling over... just cant get over that left arm yet. i also tried to sit him up in the bumbo seat... not quite ready yet.

baby gear love

still loving the piano play mat. he loves to nap in his bouncer seat, and we've used the boppy for feeding which is great. ive also been using the baby bjorn more than the ergo carrier lately, i feel its much cooler while its hot outside, the ergo will be good come winter.

outings

as always, kid comes with me to target a lot. we went to the pool at the marriot when my parents were staying there, and he met friends lauren and paige! he also was invited to my friend sarahs sons 3rd birthday party... it was a superhero theme. R2D2 was the best we could come up with.

diapers

sadly we transitioned to the bigger size gdiapers. the smalls were starting to leak and leave marks so we knew it was time to go bigger. the first few days they looked soooooo big on him, but he is certainly growing into them. when using disposables we still use target brand, and are in size 2. i dont like the overnight ones, i prefer the daytime ones with the yellow to blue line.

diet

hen eats all the food. like 30oz a day. but then some days he will eat less than 20oz. if hes not hungry he will just spit it out or not latch onto the bottle. he sure knows what he wants. im still breastfeeding in the morning and at night, and when i am home once or twice during the day (and supplementing on top of the mid day feedings). pumping at work is driving me nuts but im having daily emotional break downs about stopping. ugh.

likes

still loves hanging out with maurice his moo-cow. he enjoys walks and hanging out/goofing around with grandma(s), and reading with grandpa.

friends for life

shes gonna be mad i posted this... hehe

dislikes
getting his 3 month shots, but hes a trooper! maurice helped make them not hurt so much, but mommy didnt like that henry was upset about the shots (but he had cool camo bandaids!)

henry also isnt so sure he enjoys mommy and grammy putting him in funny hats. we sure think its fun though!

and although he is smiling im pretty sure he wont appreciate me taking so many pics of his chins!

happy 3 months hen!

bradbury mountain breaker 9 miler

while i was practically mountain climbing last sunday, wondering why i continue to make decisions like a trail race up a mountain with no trail or hill training, i smiled. no matter how difficult the terrain was, how steep the hill(s), i smiled because i was out there. i was running. air moving in and out of my lungs.

i also decided that i should wear some sort of recorder while im out running because i had a great blog post written about this race, and now, almost a week later, i cant remember shit. go figure.

but i remember smiling. a lot. i was having so much fun. i had been nervous that morning that i was going to suck, be last, end up lost (that thought again crossed my mind around mile 7 running alone through the woods), but none of that happened. and my official thoughts on the day: this race was awesome.

orange and yellow- descent

red- up.

im not exactly sure what enticed me to want to sign up and run this race. i knew a few people (members of the trail running club that puts the race on) and they helped convince me that i would be ok (although i might want to hurt them at the end) if i ran this race on no training. 

i had thrown this conversation out to them on twitter...

i may or may not have been registered for the race already

i also tried to convince a lot of friends to make this bad life decision with me, but to no avail. i was going to die. scared, and alone. buuuuut really, i had liked the pineland farms 25k trail race for the most part, although i knew this race was bound to be a bit more difficult than that one (more technical, a lot more UP)... so i had no expectations other than to just try to enjoy it, and of course not die. 

mission accomplished. 

ty, brayden, duke, henry and i all left the house around 7:30am to head to the start. i had eaten a piece of pb toast, and brought oatmeal with granola and some coffee (race day norm). i had even done race braids, which i havent done in a long time! i picked up my bib number and tshirt from jamie at the picnic table and stretched before going to the start. the boys missed the start since henry decided he wanted to eat, but i knew that we would come through the park area near where we started twice so i told them i would just see them then.

sexy pre race attire, awesome race wear (thanks sarah for letting me borrow!!)

when the race started we climbed a little bit but it was overall fairly flat and even some downhill for a little bit. i knew right away that this was going to be a long run (time wise), and i would have to keep my eyes wide open and on the ground in front of me to avoid falling or getting hurt with all the rocks and tree roots on the ground. i dont think i even put my sunglasses on, the trees in the woods made it very shady, which helped keep it cool as well. they had said in the pre race speech that we would know when we were on the climb to the summit, so i kept waiting for that. at about mile 1.5 i was sure we were on that climb. i asked a girl next to me, as i reached out and touched the ground in front of me as i climbed, if this was the one they were talking about... "oh, no. this isnt it. it gets worse". sweet.

after getting to the top of that climb, we went down down down weeeeeeee. i felt like i was flying, but it was so weird since you had to maneuver all the roots and rocks. i definitely wasnt used to this. we came into the park area and there was an aid station, but i had my handheld and gu with me so i ran through it. ty and brayden were right after the aid station and i dropped off my sunglasses on the first time through. i told them i was having fun and i took off into the woods again. little did i know what was just up ahead (emphasis on the "up" part).

(the 2nd time through i dropped off my water bottle)

and as i ran into the woods.... we went up. and up. i looked ahead of me and i saw people climbing. literally it looked like they were rock climbing, just without ropes and harnesses. i had to grab onto trees in some places to help myself up. there was absolutely no running up this mountain. this was the summit trail. well, i hoped it was anyway (it was).

and then a few minutes later....

the summit.

(the climb to the top. obviously this is not me.)

to say that i love maine and think that its gorgeous is an understatement. i have never been to bradbury mountain, but i absolutely want to go back (and soon!). i might not want to run to the top again anytime in the near future but id love to go and hike for the day. anyway, we got to the top, i took a few seconds to look around and catch my breath, and we were off again. there were a few trails that led down, then a few more ups, and then we were back at the base again passing through the aid station. my legs were burning like they havent done in a long time (or ever) and i knew i had to do the summit trail again, but i was oddly looking forward to it. i was feeling amazing.

(photos courtesy of maine running photos)

i grabbed a gu, dropped off my handheld, and took off for the top again.

this IS me climbing to the summit. i told this guy i would race him to the top.

with two miles left to go, i took off. i was all alone and for awhile thought i was lost (i kept thinking i was going to be the next character in the book "lost on a mountain in maine"). i hadnt seen an orange flag or a red arrow sign for awhile, nor had i seen any runners... probably half a mile went by before i saw a runner ahead of me. then i knew i was on the right track and just kept truckin. despite it having taken me almost 2 hours to complete, i knew i was going to be finishing soon and just kept smiling.

nothing quite like small races in the middle of the woods on a mountain in maine

yay dirt! and my poor ankles were toast.

you could tell my legs were tired on the summit during mile 7

bradbury mountain breaker

9 mile trail race

111th out of 157

1:54:26

apparently i was the 2nd crow athletics member to finish (according to the results, but there might have been people who didnt put their team down when registering). this race was so much fun, and i cant wait to do it again next year. this race is actually #2 in a 3 race series... the first is a 6 miler, and the third is a 12 miler. and when you do all three you get a hooded sweatshirt! now thats my kind of series! i have to work next month on the day of the 12 miler or else i would be there.

recovery was quite different than other races ive done... i woke up monday morning and felt like i had run 6 marathons on sunday. i had pain in places i didnt even know existed. i worked more muscles in my body than ever before. i wore my pro compression socks all day at work monday and slept in them for the next two nights. i ran a few shake out miles tuesday, and really didnt feel fully recovered until yesterday. i think i will be adding some more trail running (and maybe even hills.... ugh) into my remaining marathon training weeks! i definitely recommend this race to everyone!

beach 2 beacon 10k

tyler was supposed to write this blog post from his point of view but he claims hes just soooo busy with work and he might not have a recap to be ready until the weekend and and and... too bad buddy. this recap is going up today (im already three days later than i wanted to be with it!)

as always, the beach 2 beacon 10k race last saturday did not disappoint. this was my 10th year running it (they really should have given me a medal i think, obviously) and for the 10th time i loved every step of the 6.2 miles. i love the place, i love the people, i love the feeling of starting and finishing another race. i wish this race happened every month!

i knew that this year would be a little different since we now live a lot farther away from the race start than we have in previous years, and everything takes a lot longer with a baby. i also was supposed to get in an extra 6 miles on top of the race for marathon training so i had to logistically figure out how to do that as well. i set my alarm for 4:15am, wanting to be ready to leave the house by 6:15. we were going to bring duke to my moms and had to pick up our friend jamie on the way, so we decided we would take two cars. henry was still sleeping when my alarm went off, so i went out and got 2 of the miles done (nothing like warming up 4 hours before the races starts!). the air was humid but cool, i knew this was going to be a great race day. i packed up all of henrys stuff for the day, made coffee and oatmeal with granola, and we headed out pretty damn close to 6:15. all was going to plan!

since i grew up in the town that the race was in (cape elizabeth), i knew the back way to get there and bypassed the backed up traffic along the casco bay bridge from portland (many people only know one way to get to the race, and it gets pretty congested). when i got to the start line there were already busses dropping people off and although the papers said my parents street would be open until 7:15am, the police didnt want me driving down the road (it was 6:45!). luckily they let me down and i got to my parents house. a short time later i got a call from tyler that they wouldnt let him down the road no matter what he said. they parked the truck there and i ended up having to go and pick them up, dog and all. this was not part of the plan and i was getting nervous that we were going to be late (i like getting to the start at least 45 mins ahead of time to try to find people!)

we got back to the house, dropped off the dog, and got ready to leave for the start again. i texted michelle and we found each other (blog fail, no photo!), and although i didnt see many of the people i had wanted to meet up with before the race started, i did see a lot of people i didnt know were going to be there (many of which i havent seen in a long time!) so i was happy with that.

waiting for the race to start

stop go. stop go. stop go. (me and allie)

when the race started, me, allie, jamie and ty all started running together and allie and i just talked and talked and talked. she was taking pics and we were smiling and just having a great time. as we approached mile one (which seemed to fly by!) we decided we wanted to take pics at all the mile markers:

mile 1

after weaving across the street, through runners, avoiding the water stop... we decided we werent going to do that at every mile. we waved at the spectators along the course and just kept chatting throughout the miles. on the turn at mile 3 i turned around to find ty and jamie and couldnt see them. oops. we kept running until mile 4 and then jamie caught up with us, which meant ty was all alone. i had told him i would run with him so i stopped on the side of the road and waited. i was afraid i would somehow miss him but then i saw him on the other side and crossed the street to met up with him. he asked why i had stayed and waited for him and i told him i wanted to run and finish the race with him. he kept saying go on ahead, dont wait for me, etc etc... in my head i kept saying "would you just shut up, i want to run with you". (as youll soon find out, i should have taken off and left him in the dust...)

shortly before mile 5, right at my favorite part of the race (ocean view), i heard something coming up behind us. i turned around and saw a moving lighthouse coming right for us! i pushed ty off onto the sidewalk and moved over, and yup. a lighthouse. freaking. PASSED US. i told ty "oh no, this is NOT happening!" but it did. and we never caught back up to him. ridiculous. have you ever been passed in a road race by a lighthouse?! (side note: why cant i stay in the very very back end of the pack and run with my baby jogger but a LIGHTHOUSE can run in this race? i find that slightly unfair...)

seriously.

the hills (and im talking HILLS!!!) start at mile 5, and there seems to be about 100 of them (theres really 4, maybe 5). and after youve already run 5 miles you really dont want to power push up the hills... but we did. ty did an awesome job, the spectators cheer really loud (and even lie, some old man said "its all downhill from here!" LIAR!), and there was even a lady out on her front yard grilling bacon and yelling "beach to bacon!" and handing out bacon to runners. sadly we were on the wrong side of the road for this, but it made me smile. as we ran down into the park i started to feel really emotional (go figure) and knew i was about to start crying. we powered up the last hill and i put my sunglasses on so that no one could see me bawling my eyes out haha. i pulled myself together as ty and i headed closer to the finish line. the electricity from the crowd along the last half mile is amazing and i just tried to take it all in. suddenly i noticed that ty was picking up the pace. i looked at him and he had an odd sort of smirk on his face... id seen that face before. he was up to something.

about 100 yards before the finish line ty kicked it into full gear and sprinted ahead, dodging people left and right. i tried to keep up but couldnt get my legs to move fast enough, and that jerk crossed the finish line ahead of me! i looked over to him and he had a shit eating grin on his face. see, i should have left him in the dust long ago! i had crossed the starting line just ahead of him but he still beat me in the race by .1 second. unreal. (but as ty would say, everyone who sees my time knows the truth haha) xo. the finish line pics from marathon foto are pretty priceless (actually theyre probably $50)... ty has the biggest smile and i have this look of wtf?! haha. its love. (id also like to say that ty looks like he is having fun! someone please remind him of this next march when it comes time to register).

my original plan was to then run back to my parents house (just under 4 miles away), but when i finished i could feel that i was pretty chaffed (tmi) and i had forgotten to put on or bring any body glide, so i decided against it. i ran around the park until my watch read 9 miles for the day, and went and met up with the boys waiting for the shuttle bus back to the truck at the start line (we usually stick around for awhile and then the lines are really long and take forever, but we went right over there instead and got on within about 15 minutes). apparently there were cops everywhere and bomb sniffing dogs at the start, and snipers at the fort for the awards ceremony... i somehow missed all of that and not once did the bombings from boston cross my mind. these races are not going to be tainted in my mind. i love running and i am going to continue to do so without fear.

finish line

lets see if i ever run with you again!

i dont know if you can see it but the 3rd sterling to run this race was a henry!

and he came in 17th place overall. clearly not related to him.

until next year...