Life 'n Legos: 20 Weeks: Queen of Hearts 10K

Over the weekend I ran a 10K race (6.2 miles) as past of my half marathon training. I have kind of been pushing my schedule up so some of my run times seems really slow, this one included.

We went up to Oklahoma City for the weekend and stayed with my friend, Evan's, parents. They seem to be doing incredibly well given the circumstances, but still hurting (as am I). They were absolutely wonderful and welcoming to all of us. They took us out to dinner Friday night at the Old Spaghetti Factory so that I could get some pre-race carbs. Mikey was in a crappy mood, he wasn't feeling well and hadn't slept, so he was grouchy and fussy. The Saturday morning was the race, it was about 45 and raining, so Evan's mom kept Mikey so that we didn't have to take a sick baby out in that weather. His dad and Brian took me to the race and Evan's dad snapped some pictures as I crossed the start and finish line. It was really not a good run.

I was exhausted from not sleeping for 3 nights and I was also coming down with Mikey's cold. It was 3.1 miles out and 3.1 miles back right along the river. I started out at a decent pace, but around 2 miles in I just felt fatigued. When I hit the turn around I got a little bit of a second wind and started to cruise, but then the wind picked up. I had to run 3 miles head on into a strong wind. The wind was consistent and unrelenting...it was by no means fun. I decided to take it by kilometers and celebrated every time I crossed another km. Once I hit 8 I knew that I could pick up my pace a little. I decided to pick someone in the distance that had slowed down considerably and catch them. Once I passed that individual I picked another. I continued this until I reached 9k. When I hit that I just wanted to get the race finished and so I picked up the pace a little bit more. I knew that I had about 100-150 yards of sprinting left in me for the finish, so I was hoping that I would be able to see the finish line in enough time to get my sprint out. I rounded a final bend and saw the finish just over a small hill and bridge. I booked it up the hill (I sprint my hills so that I don't spend as much time working hard) and then decided to recover the rest of the distance to the bridge. I knew that once I hit the bridge I could finish the rest at a dead sprint. I took off and passed the girl ahead of me with ease. I had no clue that I had that kind of speed left in me. I was actually running so hard that my pants started falling off right about the time I approached Brian and Evan's dad. I'm sure I had quite the look on my face as he snapped a picture of me as I was trying to pull my pants up. I had shorts on so I wasn't worried about mooning everyone, I was more worried about tripping on my quickly descending pants. I finished the race about 2 minutes over my goal time...oh well. I know that I would have had a better run with more sleep, no cold, and no head wind. I guess it will just be motivation for the half.

Saturday night, Evan's parents babysat Mikey so that we could celebrate our anniversary. We decided to go to The Melting Pot. It was delicious and nice to have some time with just the two of us. Unfortunately, I forgot to get pictures.

Sunday, Evan's parents made some delicious steaks as a late lunch. We enjoyed dining with them one last time before heading back to Lawton. It was a great weekend and we really enjoyed spending time with our Oklahoma family.

Now...you may remember my post about fixing the dog door that leads to our backyard. If not, you can read the post here. Since fixing the door the cats have figured out that they are strong enough to pull the cover off even with the velcro. Thankfully they didn't do this when we are away. I am not really worried about them running away because they can't get out of the fence and they don't go anywhere anyways, but I am worried about the stray neighborhood cats coming in! These two neighborhood cats have been around since they were kittens and are very friendly. They are also very attention seeking, they come in to our garage and try to sneak in the house, they try to sneak through the front door, and recently they have figured out how to scale our fence and try to get into the back door. The male sits there and howls on a regular basis. Well, last night...which is similar to my original issue with the door, it sounded like someone was trying to break in. I looked and Chloe was in her kitty bed, but KC was nowhere to be seen. I didn't freak out this time because I knew what it was...the stupid cat was messing with the dog door. I walked out and wouldn't ya know it...the door cover was dangling by 1 piece of velcro. I also noticed KC being kind of hesitant while starting to poke her head through the door. I heard pawing. Then howling. One of the neighborhood cats was trying to get into the house! CRAP! I'm pretty sure the neighborhood cat had knocked the cover off from the outside, because Chloe is generally the one who pulls it off from the inside. KC isn't quite smart enough. Of course, I went and checked on Mikey to make sure the other neighborhood cat had not successfully entered the house and suffocated my sweet baby. He was find. I replaced the cover and pushed a large box in front of the dog door. As I got back into bed I heard the box sliding across the floor. KC had moved it and was working on the cover again as the other cat was continuing to howl outside. I flipped on the light and banged on the window to scare the cat off, replaced the box, and put the pack n play in front of it. I'm going to have to find a more permanent solution...like an animal shelter and a new door.

Just like Daddy

Mikey can now turn the pages in books. I don't let him mess with the paper pages because I don't want him to get papercuts, but he loves turning the pages in his cardboard books. He knows which direction to turn them too. He never tries to go backwards in the book, alawys turning forward...his little mind is like a sponge, his rapid development never ceases to amaze me! He's every interested in the cats, if they are near by he tries to pet them and grab them. KC usually takes off, but Chloe is really loves him and lets him grab all over her. I am really surprised as she usually hates everyone except for me. Neither cat has shown any sort of aggression towards him, even when he comes away with a handful of fur. They don't even put their ears back, they just tolerate it. I'm glad that my furbabies get along so well with my real baby :-)

His food for the week is PEAS! He actually likes them...he obviously does not take after his mother! I'm so glad that he is such a good eater though. Hopefully he will continue that trend.

"Quit taking pictures and feed me some more peas!"

Likes his peas

I ran 5 miles this week and plan to do another 5 tomorrow. I will do 10 on Sunday :-/ I'm not too excited, my knee is starting to hurt. After this half marathon I think I'm going to keep running, but cut my weekly milage. I'll run 3 miles twice a week and 6ish on the weekends. That's much more realistic for me. I am also going to start back up with Insanity and be more disciplined about TRX and spinning. I also really need to find a soccer team to play on, not playing is killing me!

As far as food goes this week...I made chicken picatta on Tuesday, honey garlic pork chops on Wednesday, and chicken enchiladas tonight. I also made some sinfully delicious baked s'mores! They were awesome! Enjoy the photos and if you are interested in recipes check out the recipe page! I'm going to add the chicken picatta because it was AWESOME...the honey garlic pork chops were not that good though. The marinade was seriously lacking.