It's a Wonderful Run

We headed up to Bedford Falls (aka Seneca Falls) in early December for their It's a Wonderful Run 5k that has been held since 2009.  This was my 3rd year participating in the event and my mom, dad and hubby joined me along with Critter in her first 5k.  We all walked it together.  

 We made it to town early so that we could send out our holiday cards with a special post mark that they only use for the weekend of the event.  There is even a little parade through town that has the characters from the movie It's a Wonderful Life.  I was issued a ticket from the cop in the movie for having a "baby in shirt."  So many people said she was so cute and I guess (I can never see her little face when I am holding her).  I had her in my carrier and zipped my coat around her in addition to having a blanket wrapped around her.  It was a warm for December day in the upper 40's.

 We had lunch at a local restaurant and then it was time for the 5k.  We got all kinds of lit up since the race starts at 4:40 and it gets dark shortly after.  My dad had a blast using my Prep & Landing trees.  He kept saying, "hold on a minute, I have to direct traffic."  This for the lines at the port-o-potties (everyone had started by now and we were at the back with walkers and dogs).  Then after the race while I was feeding Critter in the car and they were hanging on the sidewalk when group of people would walk by.

 The race starts by going across the bridge that George Bailey jumped off in the movie.  We even saw a few people dressed up in more than Santa hats and such this year.  We saw an Elf on the Shelf, a Snow Man, Gingerbread Boy and a tree.

 It was a beautiful night for a stroll with my family and my mom enjoyed a quick little rest at one of the homes along the course that had a tiki bar set up and had their little set up all tropical.

The BoB stroller

Thanksgiving morning we got up early (well, at the same time we have been) and volunteered at our local Turkey Trot.  It was the first time Critter went in the jogging stroller (not for a jog but just to hang out).  She loved it and the fact that she got to sit "big girl" style (not in a car seat) meant she could see the world.  Papa Bear had fun pushing her around while we waited for the race to start and then we parked ourselves on the course and directed runners at the split for the long run and the fun run.  

We had great weather and I am so happy my little Critter loves the stroller.  We will be going for walks once the weather stops being so rainy and come spring she will be ready for running.  We have volunteered at the split for at least the past 10 years and look forward to many more years with Critter helping out now too!

Pre-Marathon Tips and Tricks

So you've done all you can do to prep for and train for a marathon and the big day arrives.  To help make sure everything goes as smoothly as possible (except the weather--you cannot control that) here are some things I've figured out over the years.  Some might work for you, others might not.  Of course, there might be even a few things I forgot or that I haven't thought of.  In no particular order:
1.)  A night light.  Yup, you might be taking on that marathon in the morning but tonight you are staying at a hotel and no one wants to go blind in the middle of the night from all that hydration by turning on the bathroom light.
2.) Stay off the painted lines in the road. Those little buggers get slippery when they are wet and can be a little slippery even when the roads are dry.
3.)  If you have to go potty at the start try to skip the first bank of port-a-potties if you can and wait for the second group of them.  Everyone seems to stop at the first group so if you can hold it for a few more miles you won't be waiting in line while minutes tick by.
4.)  Wear gear that you've worn for a long run before.
5.)  You just might want to hang onto that long sleeve shirt you planned to toss if the weather is on the chilly and possibly rainy side.  Tie it around your waist for later.  About 20 miles in you might want that shirt if the winds kick up and it starts raining.
6.)  Bring clothes you don't mind getting rid of.  Over sized sweat pants and a beat up old shirt will help keep you warm while you wait at the start.  I cannot stress enough the over sized sweat pants because you *will* have to pull them off over your shoes.  Go buy a cheap pair at Wal-Mart if you have to.
7.)  Speaking of keeping warm one of those disposable ponchos are the best for the start.  It acts like a wind breaker, keeps you toasty warm and dry.  If you don't think about this a garbage bag works just as well but it isn't as awesome.
8.)  Bring a towel or old blanket to sit on in the corral/start area.  You might be sitting around for a while before the start.  Why stand when you can sit but the ground can be chilly/damp in those early morning hours.  Plus you can use it to stretch on as well.

Crazy, have a kid, become insanely crazy

So Crazy for me started in middle school when I decided to run cross country and didn't know a single person on the team--paired with the fact that not a single person in my family runs.   All throughout high school I could never understand why people would want to run a marathon.  I mean, it's really far.  The idea of me running a marathon started to form in my freshman year of college and then I read about the Disney marathon that handed out candy at mile 22, took my first trip to Disney for spring break with the track team and became an addict.  That trip to Disney convinced my family that I *needed* to run a marathon and it would be Disney.  Yes, let's go to Disney and run a marathon without running a half marathon first to see what it is like and do no training other than what you run for your college team workouts.  Whoops!

first marathon

It didn't matter that I was exhausted and sore beyond belief.  I loved it and was hooked.  It was fun and I would sign up for more of that kind of crazy for the next 10 years--with the addition of a half marathon then a marathon.  I started to see the Ultra Runners as the ones that were crazy.  Who wants to run more than a marathon?

Apparently, marathons aren't enough for me anymore.  In some form of sleep deprivation and the need to feel like "me" again I decided that I was going to run an Ultra Marathon (anything that is over marathon distance).  Yeah, that's right.  I signed up for an ultra.  Apparently running is the only time that I feel like I have my stuff together so I figured if I run really far then I will really have it together.  My support crew (aka Mom) is already on board for this crazy adventure that will be 12 hours of running the same 1 mile loop over and over again.  I can run as much or as little as I want.  There is a bathroom and aide station every mile.  Will it be boring? Maybe.  Will it be fun?  Perhaps.  Who am I kidding--with mom involved it is always fun.  So on May 14th I will be running Mind The Ducks.  No idea how to train for this but I am thinking I've got a good start with my Goofy training that I do every year.

Body 4 months Post Baby

Don't hate on me for this post but Critter hit the 4 month mark and I am down to my pre-pregnancy weight.  Before you get all upset about that (I know, I know, it takes people years to lose the baby weight) let me also say that although I am at pre-pregnancy weight I am not at pre-pregnancy shape.

My belly is a little pouch still so my clothes still don't fit (except my sweatpants, I am living in sweatpants and I love it--so comfy).  My hair is still shedding like crazy---apparently it will peak the shed between 4-6 months (fingers crossed we are on the down side and can stop feeling like Cousin It from the Adams Family lives with us with all the hair everywhere!).  Other than my belly, everything else is the same.  Maybe the belly pouch is thanks to my diet that consists of 2 crispy chicken sandwiches, medium fries and medium strawberry lemonade 2 days a week from Wendy's or the fact that on my day off from running I just devoured the Wendy's meal for lunch and polished off the day with 2 burgers from Don's Original after a bagel and cereal for breakfast and almost half a bag of ginger snap cookies. Hungry all the time.

Running post baby was hard at first but now it is going extremely well.  I am cruising through my workouts faster than the paces I trained at 2 years ago and feeling great.  Thanks to my support crew (aka my mom) I am able to get out and do all my runs for sanity hour(s).