ABK FALL MEET 2010 - GO CHASE!

Chase did awesome at her first meet at her new gym...America's Best Kids. She was so nervous, she didn't sleep for 3 days because she was running her routines over and over. She was within .025-.10 all meet of taking it all but what a great first step into a new realm of competition!

Cascade Lakes Relay 2010

Here's the album...the pics say it all...except that I didn't feel in shape. I ran the 10 mile hill climb at Granite Man the week before and thought, hey, if I can train 5-6 miles I'll surely be able to push it to 10 for the race...I did. So I thought that theory would work for CLR since my longest leg was only 6.6 miles. WRONG...I forgot about the other contributing factors that DON'T work in your favor when participating in CLR...like...no sleep for 2 days, hot weather (I run at 6 am at home to avoid the heat), lack of good nutrition, cramped in a car and running 3 times in 1.5 days instead of 1 time every 3 days. Anyway, things to work on for next year...train and train hard! All in all, I love my team of runners and our support team that cooked for us at the end of the race and set up a great celebration house to come together and laugh, share and hug hug hug!!!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2073067&id=1492913698&l=e41d0d1eb6

Granite Man...

Granite Man race...Josh and crew put on the Granite Man multi-race this year...hopefully the first of a long future putting on a great event in the Rogue valley. Geoffrey and Jett resting up at the end of a long day of setting up the courses and riding Segways!

Sister Picnic

Why it took us so long to think of it, who knows but we finally did...Sarah and I drove an hour and met Baboo (and baby Eva) in the middle on I5 and had a picnic, bride's maid dress fitting and 5 hours of great sister time.

Update...

Oops...the end of the tournament got very crazy but in the end, we took home 2nd place. Not only were we spared another 2 weeks of baseball and a week in Portland for the state tourney...we gained our SUMMER!!! Hallelujah, we are relaxed happy campers now enjoying the HOTHOTHOT weather, boating on the lake and an open free schedule...ahhh...big sigh...

Jett is 1 team away from winning the all-star tournament...

It's been a LONG 5 days and we have 2 to go hopefully to take home the district championship! Go Jett!

Locks of Love...3 ponies officially cut off...

The plan was for me and my girlies to cut all of our hair off together...I wasn't ready for a crazy short bob so I waited...today I cut off 10 inches and feel like me again...ahh...long hair is not me...ah...this feels GREAT!!!

4th of July

Sailor and I ran in the 4th race and she did her 2 miles in 17 minutes...she wanted to pass everyone she could...I had a hard time keeping up!
Jett getting a massage on all of his painful baseball parts...

Jett chillin' at the parade...

My family/employee getting ready to run in the Ashland 4th run...

A fun June...

For Sarah's birthday and Father's Day we partied with Steve Martin and his banjo band. Oh my...he is amazing and when he encored to "King Tut"...we went crazy crazy...

Jett received many praises and 2 marriage proposals after a week as a counselor at Vacation Bible School. He loves working with the 2-3 year olds...they LOVE him!!! I am so proud of my boy for living many years as a kid at VBS and now giving back to the new little ones by loving on them, creatively getting them to listen and being a jungle jim for all to climb! Great kid!

Auntie Sarah's graduation

The girls and their little cousin...
The bro and sistahs...
The whole damn fam...

Game 1...WIN...18-3...

Jett started the game pitching and did well. He got a triple and a double today...something he hasn't done in a game maybe EVER! The stands were filled with a sea of red ATP (Ashland Town Pride)...lots of people from the community and our younger 2 all-star teams, one that just won their tourney and is heading to state...we hope we follow... One W down, 4 to go!

12 years in the making...

For Jett, it's been 12 years in the making. For Josh, it's been 26 years since it happened for him. Little League 12 year old All-Stars...the big guys...Little League World Series potential! We're not holding our breath to go all the way like Josh did back in the day when his team went to Maine for the LLWS but we'd like to make it out of our own backyard and up to Salem for state. The anticipation (I refrain from using the word "fun" because I become a competitive, anxious ball of "FUN" starting tomorrow!) begins Friday night and continues through the holiday weekend and beyond.

My boys (coach and son) grabbed lots of spotlight in the first article of the tourney today. Jett's quotes are so cute! :) Go Ashland!!!

Setting the D6 stage | DailyTidings.com

Congrats Jett!

My sweet boy just played his last game of his 7 year little league career...Jett and Josh's team came in 1st place for the past 3 years and this weekend took home 2 trophies for both season and tournament champions! We still have all-stars which will be in Ashland just a few blocks from our house...perfection!!! I am feeling very sad not to sit at our beautiful fields watching my babe play the game he loves. The player's parents are a family, the siblings love their thrice weekly playdates at the fields and cheering on all the same boys year after year has come to and end...boo boo hoo. We're on to middle school ball which is just a short little stepping stone to, dare I say...Ashland H.S. Grizzly Baseball! Slow down life...slow down!

Chase's Spring Exhibition Show

Here's a little snippet of Chase's show...I'll spare you the longer version! :)

Dad and his girls

Front yard soccer is their thang!

A little bit of Jett in action...

Here ya go Grammy...Jett used to be a relief pitcher and he's turned into one of our 2 starters...hmmm...wonder if he'll switch from catcher...momma hopes not, his knees are praying, "yes, please", I'm sure!

War on Vaccines

www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/vaccines/view/

This Frontline show was filmed in Ashland this past week. Chase appears in it within the first 7-8 minutes during her gymnastics class. I live in an amazing town but man, let me tell you how nuts so many of its residents are. I will be a very grumpy mommy if my children come down with a new strand of some terrible disease because some nutty Ashlander didn't vaccinate their child. Ugh...Ashland is a zoo...come visit sometime, there's lots to see!

My 1/2 Marathon, a story told...

(in the white tank)




I just returned from a very fun family weekend...actually only about 1.5 days out of Ashland. We got to see the Cougs NOT hit the ball and lose 2 games against the Ducks...boo hoo. But on a happy note, I finished an interesting experience this morning. Here's the tale...
At 6 am Josh took me into Eugene to Hayward Field...home of Prefontaine and Track Town, USA. I arrived in the midst of 8000 runners of all ages...I was most impressed with the huge number runners over 40...super inspiring.

7 am I scrunched into the huge mob to begin my first 13.1 mile run.
Miles 1-3 I was one of the hundreds of cattle chugging along, well over my pace time because I could barely move.
Miles 3-5 The herd started opening up, I picked up my pace, shed a couple of layers and the race was on.
Miles 5-9 I'm feeling gooooood...I think I could run FOREVER. The cheerful observers had awesome signs and encouraging smiles and the gatorade/water stations were a lifesaver.
Miles 9-11 Still enjoying the run, warmer weather but eagerly looking for the big blue banners waving in the wind with my next mile marked on them.
Mile 11 My feet are starting to talk to me, for the third time since I began running I pushed the tears of "oh my gosh, I'm really doing this" back down.
Miles 12-13 Wow, that went fast and I hope my toenails are still intact and oh man, keep chuggin' because the spectators are getting thick and I don't want to look like I have no gas left.
Mile 13.1 Wow again, I entered Hayward Field with a track full of runners bolting to the finish line and a stadium full of cheering friends and family. About 20 yards to the finish line I see Josh, then Chase and Sailor waving and smiling. I gave them a big happy wave and crossed the finish line with an abrupt thought, "I'm done, really, already."

So, aside from the stinky runners, weird goo squishing out of a runners armpit, hurdling over a super flat squirrel on the road, the 70 year old beating me, gatorade up my nose at mile 8 and periodically getting elbowed by eager runners...I had a blast!

The course was beautiful and easy, the weather was perfectly refreshing and digging deep within to keep my legs moving for 2 hours was so amazing. I prayed for runners I passed or saw across the meadow on the return loop who were working so hard but were going to probably struggle down the road because of their age, weight or inexperience...It inspired me to see them committed to the race, to their health and the experience...I prayed they would have peaceful endurance, encouragement and enjoy their day.

I was so happy to hug my family after the race and see how excited they were...and probably relieved knowing my 10 weeks of training and being crazy about finding time to run is OVER...for now...Cascade Lakes Relay: 216 miles with my 11 teammates in July is next...way fun! However, note to self, don't eat curry the night before, it can sneak up and cause some worry along the way.

Stats: Finish time 2 hrs 5 minutes, 9:34 miles pace time, top 26% of all half-marathon runners, top 25% female runners. This is my personal best, my training pace time was 10:00 miles but its funny how people watching you run on the sidelines makes you run faster...gotta look like the race is easy, right??!! :)

Thank you God for a healthy body to run, a supportive family and the desire to try new things!

Boulevard Coffee...check it...

We have a new and much improved website. Check it out: http://boulevard-coffee.com/. My favorite part is our barista bios under Cafe/Galleries/BC bios. Fun stuff...I love my business and staff...they're super duper!

55 hours...

I'm on the 2ish day countdown until my first, and probably last, 1/2 marathon. We leave Saturday morning for a fun filled weekend of Cougs/Ducks baseball, family time and 13.1 miles to boot. How can running seem to amazing and exhilerating when I'm NOT doing it and then once I'm doing it, ugh, I feel like a weakling? Wish me well that I'll be exhilerated DURING my race on Sunday.