10 Days to Make it 8

In 10 days, I will be running my 8th half marathon!
As always my main goal for this half marathon is to finish.  My secondary goal would be to finish this race in under 2 hours and 10 minutes. 

So glad to have Aunt Amy, Uncle Doug and our Cousin Daniel here for a few days during their spring break!

I only have 2 more runs on my training schedule before Saturday, April 12th.  Like always, I feel like some parts of my training went well and others were a bit of a downer.  I'd say for 95% of the time, I stuck to my schedule and got my needed mileage in for the week.  Tempo running however at the specified paces, is still a work in progress.

I would also say I did a much better job this year with incorporating more cross training into my weekly workouts (which has been an area I usually have slacked off on or eliminated all together.)  An area that I haven't done well on this time around, is eating....really more over eating than anything.  Why must I enjoy food so much?!?!

But I have to remind myself of what a huge feat this is for me!  Running 13.1 miles...for the 8th time!  This is huge and it makes me feel like I am living what I try to convey to my students every day.  Work hard and persevere....you CAN do anything!!! I just have to keep telling myself this during the race next Saturday. :)

Breaking Down the End of Spring Break Numerically

2.  Number of movies viewed by our family over spring break.
Thanks to Chad who won 4 free movie passes, we went to see the new Muppets movie AND Mr. Peabody and Sherman over spring break.  And I got movie theater popcorn TWICE over spring break...which is what I am usually most excited about.

3. Number of fish caught

Thanks to Grandpa and Great Uncle Stan's fishing adventure for the boys.

12.  LAST and longest long run completed....12 miles!
Thursday I completed my 12 mile long run.  Only 3 weeks left before my 8th half marathon.  My 12 miles was on a warm and windy day, but went fairly well.  It baffles me that two days later I went for an easy 2.5 mile run and it was a huge struggle.  It literally felt like I had never ran before.  Ever.  It was weird and not fun.

  2. Number of  KSU Baseball games were attended over Spring Break.
And we even got to sit in a Suite for one of the games.  Despite staying for almost the entire game (and being up VERY late), this young man still was not happy when the evening had to come to a close.

4. Crazy Boys....Together Again!

After far too long, the Bunger and Conklin Boys were reunited in Topeka to end our week! 3r grade and Kindergarten Silliness started early...

After lunch we went to Gage Park and the boys played for almost 4 hours there together.  And the Mom's caught up on life. :)

20.  Amy and I have been friend for over 20 years.  20 years?  
Still a great friend after all this time.  We still make each other laugh and always seem to pick up like we just saw each other during our last passing period between classes at GINW.  A lot as changed in 20 years, but I'm so glad our friendship remains.

 

 

Staycation

No big plans for this spring break.

But we have done some fun things like "sugar high spring break breakfast" Monday morning while grocery shopping. 

And going fishing with Grandpa Ammeter and Uncle Stan while visiting Great Grandma Craney for the day.

I've had lots of help with spring cleaning...

And when we came home from our journey to see Great Grandma today, Chad had this waiting for the boys.

Even I got in on a game of capture the flag...

Nerf guns and darts everywhere! Tomorrow's spring break fun includes a 12 mile long run for me. My LAST big distance before my next half marathon!

Who Built the Ark?

Today The Cherub Choir sang this precious song at church. Collin told us before church he wasn't going to sing. He got the Great Grandma Ammeter lecture on church and we were off.

Thanks to Amy Hageman for these pictures! The kids did a great job and Collin was a very willing participant. This picture does not do his overall performance justice...

But this one pretty much sums it up. TESTIFY!!!!

This kid.

In One Month

30 days until Rock the Parkway Half Marathon!!!


This week is a lighter week for training, with only a 6 mile long run to complete to finish week 12.

And 220 days until....DISNEYWORLD!!!!!!!!!!! I have recently discovered that it will be decorated for Christmas while we are there which should be double the magic!
 
So many fun events to look forward to this year, but this will be the big one to cap off our year. Here is another photo from my first trip to Disneyworld in the early 80's.

I was just about the same age Collin will be in this picture.

 Can you tell how excited I am for this trip????

Mileage

This week I ran over 25 miles full of lots of wind. While this was a struggle, maybe I'll be ready on April 12th if wind is a factor.....at least this is what I kept telling myself!

I completed my 11 mile long run on a Thursday again this week due to a busy weekend in Nebraska with family. I was so grateful to have some company during 8 of those 11 miles after work that day....always makes things go faster!

And I even ran an additional 4 miles Saturday and Sunday in Hildreth.

And we had a great time playing with our Bunger Cousins in Nebraska!

This last picture below marks the second time I have posted a picture of Chad behind a sewing machine.... and I have yet to acquire this skill. :)

But who needs to with a Renaissance man like this?!?! 

Kid Sick

This weekend I started off a very cold Saturday by running the Diva Dash 5K with a group of ladies from our church.

It was windy, sleeting a bit and very cold but I was able to finish the race in 28:40 and averaged a 9:15 mile pace.

The weather kept us from our original plans to attend a wedding in Nebraska after the race, but we still enjoyed a great Saturday while the kids got to spend the night at my folks after their return from their latest cruise.

Today I haven't felt well most of the day so we haven't really left the house! I'm feeling a bit better this afternoon and while watching movies with Mitchell he thinks I was probably just kid sick from missing them last night. :)