7 on the 1st Day of Summer

Today is the first official day of summer vacation for the boys!  And it also happens to be this guy's 7th birthday!

He was up bright and early for birthday donuts and presents and couldn't be more excited to FINALLY be turning 7 years old (as he has told us...everyone else is already 7!)  He's had a great year and we are so proud of how far he has come in school this year.

Collin is still our sweet, smart, independent and quick witted young man.  It's still hard to get him to try new things and he is still not a fan of heights or large dogs.  He has such a creative imagination, loves to draw and is AMAZING at math!  He is still a total charmer and his skills at negotiation have only increased with age.  He still loves legos, dinosaurs and right now anything to do with the Avengers.

Happy 7th Birthday to our independent thinking and caring Collin Riley Bunger.  What a blessing you are to us each day.

Update

It's been a while since I posted on my blog, so it's time for an update!

Last week we celebrated Chad's 38th birthday! And then he left for a few days on a flyfishing trip to Colorado with some guys from church. It sounds like the weather was interesting...but I guess being hailed on twice is still better than a good day at work?

This past Friday we also took a group of our Eisenhower middle school students who qualified on a trip to worlds 

of fun! I took both the boys along with me and we had a great day!

20 years ago, when I went on my senior band trip to worlds of fun I was all about the thrillseeking rides. And while I still rode the Patriot and had a blast, somewhere in the past 20 years, I have developed a bit of a fear of heights and pretty much stayed grounded for the day. Which Collin didn't mind one bit!

Mitchell however spent the entire day riding all the huge roller coasters with our principal and I had a great 

day too!

And somewhere in the middle of all the busy end of the year happenings, I developed a crazy case of strep throat. Not what I was expecting and totally took the wind out of my sails for two days. But I am feeling better and still managed to run over 14 miles this week.

Less than one week until my 10th half marathon!

The Best and 300

I have now logged over 300 Miles in 2015! I have been trying my best to focus on running as many hills as possible, and also getting out in the humid conditions. I haven't been fast but I'm hoping this kind of training will pay off for me both mentally and physically for my upcoming race.

And today Collin brought me home one of the best Mother's Day cards ever. So simple and so sweet.  1st grade handmade cards are the sooprist.

1st Grade Field Trip and Another 12 Miles

Friday was a perfect day for a 1st grade field trip to the Milford Nature Center with this little guy!!

What a fun day and a fun group of kiddos.  Collin has had a wonderful year and we owe a great deal of his success to his amazing teacher!  

 Saturday morning Kim and I got our last training long run completed!  12.25 miles with  more hills than either of us would have liked...but we made it and now it is time to taper for next few weeks.  And this week I should complete 300 miles for 2015!

And while I was completing this run my boys were out on another great camping adventure.

Not bad a weekend for the Bunger Family!

Clocked

My knee is feeling great and I was able to log 22 miles last week.  Once my knee started to feel better, I eased into a few shorter runs and then Saturday set out to try and get at least 6 miles in.

 And while I was on a long stretch of quite road just north of town, I was even clocked by this speed limit machine!  Don't worry, 6 mph is well within the 40 mph speed limit. :)

It was a humid and rainy morning, which soon turned into a rain filled long run.  However, there was no wind and most of the time it was a light rain which actually wasn't bad to run in at all.  I felt great and was able to run 11 miles!  It wasn't fast by any means, but I did pick a very challenging route with many hills.  Including running the huge hill on Kimball at mile 9.5! While these hills are no fun, I know that the first 8 miles of my next half will all be on HWY 77, which is almost entirely made of "rolling" hills, so I want to try and train on as many hills as possible for the next few weeks to prepare.

This week my training plan backs off with a long run of only 6 miles.  After that it will be one more long run of 12 miles before I start to taper again.  One month and two days until my 10th half marathon!

New Ride

We have left the minivan world behind! We finally traded in our 2007 Uplander that we have had since I was pregnant with Collin.

There was really more hate in this love-hate relationship with this van. It was great when the kids were young. But then we hit a rough patch where it had several costly repairs that didn't seem to end.

But once our commuting days ended, we were able to keep the van going and enjoy some payment free years.

We were all excited for this upgrade and Ben Kohl always treats us right at John Kohl Auto Center in York, NE! It's worth the drive and we wouldn't buy a vehicle from anyone else.

So now we are the proud owners of a brand new Traverse! It's everything I wanted and a serious upgrade for our family.

I'm still trying to heal up from my fall last Saturday. I ran about 13 miles last week total and then had planned to run a 10 mile run around Friday. However, my right knee that took most of the force of my fall has really been hurting again. More rest and a  possible doctor's visit could be in my future this week.

Crash and Burn

Well, it happened.  While on a long run on Saturday, I fell. It was about 2.5 miles into my 8 miles and I have no idea what I tripped on, but I fell hard.

Thankfully, I had a wonderful friend from school and running buddy who came to my aid!  Kim was on her way to meet me for part of this run and graciously drove me to her house so I could get cleaned up and complete my run.

  I am still sore today with a swollen knee, but I think I'm going to come away from this with only scrapes and bruises. But falling when your 37 vs 7 is a whole new feeling/experience and hurts a lot more than I remember when I was a kid!!

My first picture from this post is from the end of the Wamego Wicked Half Marathon!  I was 12th in my age group (out of 37) and right in the middle of the pack for overall runners in the race.

And now I have jumped back (or fell back into) training for my 10th Half Marathon on May 23rd!  I am hoping that my swollen knee will be good to go on Monday for a 4 mile run.  I have not run two half marathons this close together since 2011.  Here we go again!!!