Not Your Run-of-the-Mill Birthday Party

Today we celebrated my dear friend Colleen's 40th birthday in a new kind of style: She hosted a run/walk/bike 5k at her home. We ran through the streets of Farmington on a pre-designed course that ended at her house.

Tom joined us and biked the route with our girls in tow, so they have technically participated in their first race. (The fact that they were both screaming throughout most of it will be politely ignored.) Afterwards we got to hang out with Colleen and her friends and family, as well as her assertive and fun-loving children, where we had a continental breakfast and, ironically, cake. (Healthy lifestyle or not, what's a birthday party without cake?!?)

Truly one of the neatest birthday parties I have been to! Happy Birthday to Colleen, who is truly "40 and Sporty!"

Liesl was so proud to get her own race bib.

Some of my FAMC peeps showed up as well:

Maria (on the bike), Kristen (in green), and Roxana (in blue)

And that tiny little helmet-clad blue thing on the right...that's Ava.

The girls ready for the starting line. And Tom, who was pretty much along for the ride.

Yuk, yuk, yuk.

The birthday girl (in green) describing the route, which she also marked on the sidewalk in chalk.

I feel pretty. Oh so pretty.

My family enjoying the party and having breakfast. (And cake.)

My Training Buddy

Second-hand jogging stroller, passed down from sister: $0

Hand-me-down lion costume/bunting from nephew: $0

Plain 'ole hooded sweatshirt, found at a garage sale: $1

Training for Ava's first race: priceless freakin' hilarious

"Not Me" Monday

It's "Not Me Monday" time. For details on what this is all about, please click the picture at the left. I have noticed a lot of blogs are often very sunny, cheerful, the children are always clean and perfectly-behaved, life is a wonder, nothing ever goes wrong.

Mine is not one of those blogs. I'm going for honesty, folks. Do I love my children? Oh yeah. Am I eternally grateful to be able to stay home with them instead of leaving them in daycare? Definitely. Is my husband fantastic? Of course he is. (He does have fabulous taste in women, doesn't he???) Am I lucky and blessed to be saved, because I have accepted Jesus as my Savior? Absolutely. But is my life sunny and happy and cheerful every day, with my children being perfect little cherubs with their shiny halos, birdies chirping around the house, while flowers bloom out of my butt and sunshine radiates out of every other orifice of my body?

No. Oh, HELL, no. (Sorry, Will Smith, I guess I owe you for stealing your line.)

Which is why I was very happy to find MckMama's blog. She has a hilarious sense of humor and she is HONEST. Unlike a lot of "mommy blogs" I have seen, she tells it like it is. Her children are not portrayed as perfect little geniuses; her life is not portrayed as perfectly productive, fun, and trouble-free; and she is honest about her feelings for her kids (one of which is, of course, a lot of love, but still...a lot of mommies on blogs lie to the dickens about the fact that their kids never seem to drive them nuts. Liars, all of them!) So I have decided to join her. Look for my "Not Me Monday!" posts every Monday. That is, on the Mondays I get my act together to post.

So here goes:

I did not stuff about 1.5 cups of almond buttercream frosting in my mouth this weekend when I made a birthday cake for my friend's son.

I did not complain to her about having to make the cake, therefor causing me to stuff the frosting in my mouth. I most certainly did not offer to make the cake in the first place, so it's her fault, right?

I did not cut myself an extra huge slice of said cake at said birthday boy's party. And I did not make sure that I had part of a frosting clown on my slice, guaranteeing me even more frosting. And when Liesl decided not to finish her cake, I did not scrape the frosting off of her leavings, eat it, and then discard the rest of her cake.

I did not complain to my husband the next morning about my fat behind. And when he mildly brought up the cake and the amount of frosting that seemed to disappear while I was making it, I did not rudely tell him to shove it or I would stick the remaining frosting up HIS behind. Oh yeah, and when he forgot to take the leftovers of the frosting to work with him this morning to share with his buddies on graham crackers, I did not intentionally "forget" to remind him to take it with him.

And when I went out running* this morning, passed the bus stop, and a pre-teen kid in my neighborhood snickered at my cold weather running outfit (grey sweatpants over pink long underwear, grey sweatshirt, bright pink mittens and a dorky headband covering my ears), I did not flip him the bird. **

This afternoon, when my two darling cherubs were asleep for a total of 1.5 hours, I did not ignore all of my housework and desk tasks by vegging on the couch for the entire time. I most certainly did not shove a huge bowlful of brown rice and drink 3 diet sodas while sitting on the couch, and I did not call that "lunch." And of course I did not watch the episode of "Top Chef: New York" that I taped last week. (And they did not kick Jill off for her ostrich egg quiche, especially after Ariane made that disgusting lemon dessert thing. And I did not swear at the TV as a result of that elimination.)

Lastly, I did not wear my fuzzy bedroom slippers all day, I did not eat 2 Weight Watchers ice cream bars in a row, and I did not pretend not to hear Liesl hit her head this evening while I practiced playing violin, just so I could finish Variation D of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star."

Now it is 9:00 p.m. I will not hit the freezer for another ice cream bar before bed.

'Night 'night.

* I really did run this morning. Honest!

** If I did flip that kid the bird, which, of course, we all know I did not do, I was wearing mittens so nobody could actually SEE the bird. Except, of course, God.

Unlikely...but not impossible

Ava's birthday bash is today. We are ordering pizza and salads, but I decided to make the birthday cakes myself. I baked three* cakes and made 24 cups of icing on Friday. And Saturday morning, I went to Weight Watchers and weighed in. I lost 3.2 pounds last week. I'm pretty impressed with that...given that I have a tendency, to, uh, test the icing to be sure it is fit for human consumption....

Another icing story...my father-in-law swore up and down that I'd made way too much icing. Ha! I almost ran out. I used almost every smithereen of it. (What wasn't eaten by me or the family, that is. I gotta say...baking and cake decorating are very stupid hobbies for a Weight Watcher. At my request, Tom dropped me off at my Weight Watchers meeting yesterday in my running gear, and I ran home after the meeting. Talk about an incentive to exercise....)

Oma and Opa have been in town all weekend for the bash, and were a HUGE help watching the girls while I played with icing in the kitchen. They weren't really given a choice...but somehow, I don't think they minded. :-)

Pictures of Ava's cakes and the birthday bash will probably show up here tomorrow. My little Pumpkin Pie, my little Smooshy-Wooshy, my sweet little Funny Bunny is almost 1 year old! I can't believe it.

* I actually baked four cakes...but promptly dropped one of the perfectly-baked layers in the oven as I took it out. The cake pan flipped upside down INSIDE the oven. The fluidity and ingenuity of the cursing that followed was actually quite impressive. I would've written some of the more inventive phrases down, had I not been busy shoveling loads of freshly-baked cake hunks out of the hot oven onto the floor and inside the storage drawer under the oven. Props to Grammie for helping me clean that mess up. I had to bake another cake. We now have one odd, lonely cake layer hanging around, with no home or intention. Any takers?

Running commentary (pun intended)

The long-awaited 5K was today! Yes, I finished, I had a pretty decent time for a first-time runner, and I met my goal of not walking a single step of the race. So, how did it go? There are three ways this could have played out:

1) (Upon crossing the finish line:) "Oh, I am SO excited about this race! I can't WAIT to run to my blog to post about how exhilarating this was, how I got bit by the "racing bug" the minute I crossed the finish line, how a whole new sense of purpose immediately fell over me as I realized I had met my goal. The sun is shining, the birdies are chirping, and life as we know it is a beautiful thing. Oh, glory be, what a wonderful day!"

2) (Upon crossing the finish line:) "Eh, ok. That's great. Tom's waving a camera. Yup, here I am, I finished the race. Oh, thanks for that water bottle. Where the heck do we eat? Do we go into THAT building to eat? Where is the pancake breakfast? Excuse me...Miss? Do we go into this door or that one? Where do we go for pancakes? Ok, Tom, Christine, assorted offspring and family...let's move, Becky wants pancakes. NOW. Are we going this way? Can I push a stroller? Carry a couple of kids? Where exactly do we get in line for the pancakes....?"

3) (Somewhere between mile 1 and mile 2:) "This is NUTS. What the #$*%&@ do I think I'm doing, waking up at 6:00 a.m. on a Sunday to do THIS??? Who ARE these people? Are they complete IDIOTS?!?!? Aren't we done yet? Why do they call this a SPORT?!?! This is TORTURE! Aren't we done yet? Am I doing this right?? Where the hell are the mile markers?!??!? Aren't we done yet? PLEASE?!??!"

So which was the real outcome? All three of them. At some point or other, I was thinking one of those 3 scenarios--sometimes simultaneously. My biggest observation? Running this race--and it's only a 5K, mind you--is a lot like natural childbirth. The thoughts going through my head prior, during, and after the race were darn near identical to my thoughts prior, during, and after natural childbirth. Would I do it again? You betcha. I already have plans for another (a race, not a natural childbirth, that's not in the cards in the near future). I plan to enter another 5K in mid-August, for no reason other than to motivate myself to keep exercising. I'd like to have a better time in the next race, and I plan to pay more attention to pacing and all the mental stuff that goes with preparing for a race. But the main goal is to keep me running in the weeks between races.

My racing buddy, Christine...she is just too cute. Christine and I would make a tremendous "before" and "after" photo of what long-term running and good nutrition can do for your body. (And, um, I'd qualify as the "before" model, thankyouverymuch. Though I am working to change that.) In fact, I showed these photos to my mother, and her reply was, "Who's the girl with all the muscles?" Christine has run many races in her life, but she has never run a 5K before, and she did it with me. She says it's because she wanted to keep herself motivated to keep running too. And while I know that is partially true, she held herself back during the entire race so that we could cross the finish line together. (Truthfully, she pretty much dragged me across.) For that, I am very grateful. She also reminded me that it's a good for my children to see me running in and finishing this race...it gives them positive exposure to the benefits of health and exercise. You're a wonderful mother and a good friend, Christine, and I am very blessed to have found you.

The whole family at the pancake breakfast after the race

Amalie and Ava
"Dude, cover your eyes. Your mom looks HIDEOUS."

Jakob, 5, enjoying his pancake breakfast

Julia, 3, also enjoying breakfast

What I love about Christine and her family is, besides the fact that they are all tremendously kind and wonderful people, they also know how to enjoy their food. :-) Tom and I love foodies!

Liesl and Mommy enjoying our breakfasts...and Ava is enjoying hers, too. :-)

Liesl and her new buddy, "Mr. Bear." The State Farm Insurance
mascot handed them out to the children of all the race participants.

Thank you, Dixie Chicks

My latest download on iTunes is Ready to Run. :-)

Tomorrow is my 1st race. Christine is coming to pick me up at 6:30 a.m. (on a weekend...gasp, choke!!!) Tom will arrive with the girls a little before 8:00, and be at the finish line when I get there. I have everything packed for him, the girls, and myself. (He has the camera!)

After 9 weeks of training, I am ready. Wish me luck!

5K Warning!

I've been asked by about 15 people now about my 1st 5K race, which I am running on June 29 at the Livonia Spree. The question that most people ask is about my time: what time am I shooting for?

I am shooting for a finish, period. The race comes 9 weeks after I started running for fitness and weight loss. I entered this race for motivation to continue with my fitness plan, not to seriously compete. I informed the race coordinator when I signed up that my only goal was to finish, and I didn't care about my time. I've had slugs and snails passing me during my "long" runs in the last two weeks...but the point is not speed, it's fitness. I don't even know how many miles I run during any of my workouts--at this point I am using time as a guide and slowly increasing the length of time that I run as the weeks go by.

So...when the race comes and goes, I will probably post pictures, as Tom is going to bring both of our girls to cheer me on, and then we will all enjoy a pancake breakfast afterwards. (Another warning: the post-race pictures WILL be horrid. I have seen the mirror after my running workouts, and let me tell you, the results are rarely pretty!) But I will not be posting my time--not even if it is a good one. To think about the time would make me nervous or cocky, and I don't want either--I just want motivation to stick with the training.

I found a great training program for beginners in the May, 2008 issues of Runner's World magazine. I am adhering to this program fairly well. I run on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays I cross-train by doing an at-home strength training routine, it lasts about 38 minutes. Sunday is a day of rest for the body as well as the spirit. All of my weekday workouts are completed early in the morning before Tom goes to work; he takes care of the girls if they wake up before I'm finished.

So far, I have only missed two workouts, and they were both strength-training workouts. I missed the workouts due to traveling on Memorial Day weekend, but I did take my running shoes with me and was able to complete my scheduled Saturday run. I have yet to miss a running workout before the race, and I don't plan to, either.

I send thanks to all of my friends and family for their well-wishes and encouragement about my training. Please feel free to ask about the race afterwards, too--I just won't be sharing my time for personal reasons. :-)