Monday vs. Wednesday

Monday the high in Manhattan was 76 degrees and I ran over 3.5 miles outside in shorts and a t-shirt.  And this morning we awoke to this!!!!

Really??? Ugh.  I guess the rest of the week will be spent on the treadmill when it is time to train.  I was able to tough out a cold and windy interval work-out on the track yesterday after school and I am hoping enough snow will have melted/been cleared away by the time Saturday's long run of 5 miles rolls around.

 Finally, I ask you what is wrong with this picture?  The answer is.....a little boy who was supposed to be picking up the Legos but instead told me "he was saving them in case Mitchell wanted to play with them."  When I said Mitchell could still play with them if they were put away he responded "but this way is much easier to find them, so let's just keep them there, okay?"  Unfortunately for Collin his reasoning didn't work out and the cream carpet was once again located in the living room.

Reverse

 This weekend at ice skating lessons it we needed more clothes to be inside than outside! 

 Stuffed animal camouflage during a morning game of hide and seek to start off the weekend.

With warmer temperatures and no snow, I am hoping to be able to do all my training for Week 3 outside again.  And who knows.....maybe next weekend will be another winter reverse day where we put on more warm clothes to go into ice skating lessons and then take them off again before we go outside?!

Baby It's Cold Outside

Lessons Learned from week 2 of my training:  Anything under 20 degrees needs to be a treadmill day!

Thursday I brought my cold weather running gear to work out after school and decided to take out in the cold conditions since I only had a 20 minute easy run to accomplish.  The first 10 minutes was straight into a wind (which wasn't that strong) however this made the wind chill was in the teens....it was frosty and since I didn't have scarf or anything to cover my face or mouth, at times it was even hard to feel like I was getting a full breath.

 I dread having to run on the treadmill, but it looks like I've found my threshold for training outdoors during the winter months.

Technology Break and Speed Work

The last day of our 3 day weekend was spent on an 18 hour technology break.  No TV, no DS, no X-Box, no computer, no tablets!

Daddy and the boys made chocolate chip cookie dough from scratch while I was out on my 4 mile easy run Sunday night and while that was chilling in the fridge, Mitchell created a new game based on Pokemon cards.  We created our own "battle grounds" all with paper, crayons and markers.  He is so creative and we played his new game for over an hour.

Then the boys decided to have a camp out in the basement and played go fish by the camping lantern and the fireplace.

Our technology free time continued into this morning where the boys decided we should play house after breakfast.  I guess when you play how with all boys, guns are involved????

And while Daddy and Mitchell took advantage of the free ice skating today, Collin and I baked the chocolate chip cookies and played several more hands of Go Fish.  Sometimes it is good to remember how much fun we can have together without Disney Jr, DS games and Where's my Water on the tablet!!!

Even though it is a brisk 24 degrees today, I still took out do some interval work at the track not too far from our house.  After the half mile jog there to warm up, I did a 4x400 interval work out and ran back home.  As long is it is 20 degrees or above (ish) with dry conditions.....I plan to be outside running and staying off the treadmill as much as possible this winter.

When Things Don't Go As Planned

We had planned a fun  trip to Omaha with the Croghan's for the weekend.  However, as we were just blocks away from home, we learned that poor Bella was sick with the flu and we decided to just stay home for the weekend.

Needless to say, the boys were crushed.  And we were all pretty bummed on Friday night....but we have made new plans with our friends and are keeping our fingers crossed for an ill-free get together with them in February!

So we have been making the best of our unexpected weekend at home which included a couple of play dates for the boys yesterday and a family game of bowling after church today.

And even though we may not have the best bowling games in town....we always come up with some awesome bowling names for the board.  This time we were all Mario Bros characters.

Mitchell was Mario, Chad was Luigi, I was Peach and Collin was Bowser.  Good thing we weren't meant to rescue the princess today.....Luigi was the only one to break 100 and we were bowling WITH bumpers!

Jr Wildcats

Our boys made the front page of the Jr Wildcats Winter Extra Publication!

This shot was taken at the Jr Wildcat event held at a men's gave over the holiday break and it was Collin's first time on the floor at Bramalage Coliseum.

In running news....my first week of training is in the books!  And since my first long run was only 4 miles, I have already completed it.  Bring on the weekend!!!

Sleep Over

Last Friday we were able to visit our good friends in Chapman, the Ingram's.  Shelly and I worked together the past 7 years in the counseling center at JCMS and I miss her dearly!  Since our kids are the same age, anytime we are all reunited, there is always a lot of excitement!

We were able to take in the Boys Basketball game that evening and watch Coach Ingram in his element as his team played hard against Concordia that evening.  Afterwards the boys were VERY excited to have a family sleepover at their house!!!

 It's never a dull moment when this crowd gets together!  We had a successful sleepover (with only a minor protest from Collin just before a very late bedtime of wanting to go home) and as always we enjoyed every moment with the Ingram's.

Lego Explosion

On this cold winter day, I got the idea to have a family lego challenge. We started with all the legos in their containers and when I decided we should just dump them all out....our creme colored carpet turned into a plastic-primary colored explosion of legos!

The game has continued most of the day as we have made cars, ships, islands (that was Collin's idea for the boats to park at) and now Collin is working on a giant castle.  Next up, a planned obstacle course for hex-bug races in the kitchen!

13 miles in 2013

Not all in one setting...but so far I have run 13.8 miles in the first week of 2013.  Winter is not my favorite season at all, I am not a fan of snow unless I am watching it from my window...but I have to admit I am a big fan of running outdoors during the cold winter months. 

I love the feeling of being perfectly warm while running outside, even though the temperature may be in the 20's or 30's.  I am working to get my fitness level up so I won't be starting from scratch when I start my training schedule next week.

Mitchell starting ice skating lessons this past weekend and while he spent a good deal of time like the above photo...he can't wait to go back for next week's lesson!

We had a wonderful 2 week break for the holiday's and now tomorrow the spring semester begins for both the boys and I.  This will also mark the LAST semester of Collin in preschool and the LAST few months of preschool/daycare bills for our family!!!!!!!!!!!! 

First miles of 2013

Yesterday Chad and I went on a group run sponsored by Manhattan Running Company to start out 2013.

While I can never pretend to even try keeping up with 95% of this group, it was good motivation to get out, get moving and log my first 3.2 miles for the year. 

And thanks to my wonderful husband and the boys for this cool Christmas present I sat up in my office today!!  Training for the Lincoln Half Marathon will start soon!