3:38:30

That was my time this year in the Pig. It was my fastest marathon to date, that is the good news. The bad news was, in my attempt to run my fastest marathon, I shot out of the gate way way too fast and was barely moving for the last 4 - 5 miles of the race. Here is a video Emily took of me at mile 22. I was getting ready to quit at this point, as evidenced by me flinging off my head band and just stopping. I still had 4 miles to go!!!

I apologize for the sideways view here, but the fun stuff is at the end when Tom starts clapping. I think that was what kept me going. It was the first time I cracked a smile the whole morning. Anyway, I feel fine today (a day later) and am happy with my time. Here are a few more pictures of the day.

Sad Day

Today was a sad day for Thomas. It was his last day at daycare, at least for the next year. It is funny how things changed over the past few months. When we first started taking him to Abbys, no one was very happy about it. Tom did not like being separated from us, and we did not like leaving him with strangers. Add on top of that his constant ear infections and us having to pay for daycare that was not being used due to those ear infections, it was not a good situation.

Well, today showed how far we have come and how much daycare was a part of Tom's life. His teacher, Miss Claudia, started crying when I told her it was Tom's last day. She has really grown to love our little guy. Even the ladies who watched him in the "crawlers" room were upset. If you look at the picture below, you can see, Tom has a sad little look on his face. All these ladies crying around him made him sad too. The people at Abbys were very good to Tom and we are going to miss them. Now Gramma and GG take over, at least for the month of May. I wonder if Tom will mind all the extra attention on him? :)

Tom gets ready for breakfast at Abbys. That is his buddy, Jake, across from him. They have the same shoes and the same cut on their foreheads. Tom just knew something was up, look at his sad little face.

Marathon Week

Yes, it is marathon week...again. I am thru my 17 weeks of training and am gearing (and carbing) up for the Flying Pig this Sunday. This year was a little different then most. Typically I train with a group of people or, at the very least, one other person. Well, this year I was training solo. John Gonsior, who ran last year with me, pitched in on some long runs which really helped, but for the most part I was on my own. It was not as bad as I thought it would be. There were plenty of mornings when I did not want to get up and run for 2 hours, but I pushed thru that and did not miss a single training run.

I feel like I am in really good shape this year. Mentally, I know I can do this, as it is my 11th marathon. I won't be surprised by too much while I am running. Physically, I pushed my pace this time, so I am hoping for a PR (personal record) this race. It should be interesting to see how fast I can actually run 26.2 miles.

Marathon week is pretty simple. I drink about 10 times the amount of water I usually drink and I start eating lots of carbs around Wednesday. As far as running goes, there is not much more I can do to help myself. Really, the week of the marathon, I can only hurt myself by running a bunch. So I just do a couple 2 or 3 mile runs to keep my legs loose and try and stay positive. It is a really nice break from those 8 mile lunchtime runs I had been doing the last 3 months.

I'll post my finishing time on here after Sunday. If you live around Cincy and want to come cheer me on, let me know. I write a "spectator's guide" that helps people find me at certain points of the race. It really is helpful to have people out there cheering me to the finish.

Easter Pics

Almost a week late, but here are pics from the Easter Extravaganza!!!

Francie Gets Mommy Training

My niece, Francie, has been adjusting pretty well to her new little brother. I think this is a concern for any parent who has more than one child. How will the other kid, the one who has gotten 100% of your attention up to that point, handle a permanent addition to their world? Well, here are some pictures of how "hard" it has been for Francie:

Tom's Weekend at the Farm

This past weekend, we headed out to Russellville to spend some time at the Moore's farm. Gramma and Gramps had a big surprise planned for Tom when we got there.:

Uncle John, Gramps and Dad put our collective muscles and excessive brain power to work and built Tom a sandbox. It only took us half the day to do! Anyway, Thomas loved the end result and spent most of Sunday in his new sandbox.

Tom also got to see some horses, sheep, chickens, and cows while we were there. And, finally, got to play with a Christmas present we were hiding from him all Winter due to our lack of space in Newport.

Date Night

This past Friday, Thomas got to hang out with his friend Liliana. For those of you who have been following the blog from the beginning, you may remember Liliana as Tom's first date. They got their picture taken together and also did swim lessons together. Well it had been a few months since the two kids (and the parents) got to hang out with each other.

Tom was completely enamored with Liliana. He was showing off all night. He tried to kiss her about 20 times. He was giving out hugs like they were pennies. The two kids were having a pretty good time. Then the parents took it to a new level when we gave the little ones a bowl of ice cream each.


This video shows how calm it got while they were eating:

About 25 minutes after this video was shot, these two quiet, peaceful children were dancing around like crazy. The sugar kicked in and it was amazing to watch their energy levels spike. Tom usually is in bed by 8 these days. Well, the dancing and running around did not stop until 9:30. I think the "date" was a success.