2Toms Stink Free Sports Detergent Winner announced

And now for the moment you all have been waiting for, the winner of the 2 loads of 2Toms detergent sample is Jen from Running with the girls.  Congratulations, Jen.

I know this was a very small giveaway, so I appreciate all of you participating in it.

Awesome day

So now that my kids are older, I think I want to be a stay at home mom. I took the day off so that I could participate in my youngest son's field day which didn't start until 12:30. It made for an awesome day. I got up in time to get both my boys to school, and then went for a 4.25 mile run. I then ate breakfast, bathed the dogs, cleaned some of the house, did some laundry, and headed to the school for field day.

I was tasked with the ostrich egg toss. For those who don't know, it's a race where you carry an egg on a wooden spoon, except this one was a very large egg. It was so much fun to watch the kids try to balance the egg on the spoon as the raced to the finish line. 2 hours and many classes later, it was time to watch the tug of war event. Hunter's team ended up in second.

My day didn't end with field day. I had to bring paperwork to my oldest and then do some grocery shopping. I was home a little after my youngest came home from school, and since I was home he was able to let his friend come inside to play video games. Oh, and I also did 2 loads of laundry. If I did this every day, I would be so productive, but since I work, I'm to tired to do anything after work.

Unfortunately, this is only a dream, we can't afford for me to stay home, and I think I would feel guilty if I put all the financial burden on my husband. But it's a dream - funny I didn't have this dream when the boys were little.

Mother on The Run Allied Hanger Giveaway

Mother on the Run Allied Hanger Giveaway

Click this link to enter a great giveaway for medal hanger for your bling!!!

Cows and Lasers and Everything In Between: 200th Post & Blogaversary Giveaway

Come help Suz and Allan celebrate their blogaversary!

Cows and Lasers and Everything In Between: 200th Post & Blogaversary Giveaway:

Swamphouse /12 Marathon Race Recap

Today I ran my 3rd 1/2 marathon, and my son, Ryan ran his 1st. The morning started out waking at 4:30, to leave the house by 5, and get to our race by 6, for a 7 am start. The kicker was that of course, today happened to be the change to daylight savings, so technically we were up at 3:30 to get ready for our race. Anybody who knows me knows I am not a morning person, so this was very difficult for me. Luckily, I have a great hubby that didn't care that I was asleep by like 8:30 last night, and probably will be again tonight :)

The entire ride down it poured. I was very discouraged - I do not like running in the rain. It was looking like it was going to be a miserable race. Traffic was light, so we were at the race within 40 mins, and thanks to a friend, I had an inside scoop to a better route, and I was able to avoid all the race parking traffic and pulled right into the parking lot. Now was the wait time. We got ourselves ready, did our last minute pit stops and made our way up to the start line by 6:50. Well, I guess not everyone headed the warnings that the race planners gave about arriving early, because parking traffic was still backed up, and the race was delayed by like 25 minutes. Oh, and did I mention, it was still raining????? And it was all Ryan's fault - he kept saying how we would love to have a light drizzle while he ran.

7:20 came with the beautiful singing of the Star Spangled Banner. I'm not sure who sang it, but they did an awesome job. Then we were off. This route wasn't an up and back like I was used to, it was a full loop which was really nice, because you don't get stuck seeing the same sights. Oh, and the rain had stopped for the moment, but that was very short lived. It went from no rain, to light drizzle, to a pretty steady rain quite a few times throughout the race. It wasn't miserable, but I definitely would've preferred just an overcast day. The route wasn't too bad, a bit of a residential area, to a major road, another residential area, back to the major road, and then a back road back up to the end. Saw a bit of everything today - houses, businesses, dams, and cows :)

I didn't go into this race looking for a PR, mainly I wanted run this race for my son. We have been training together for over 8 weeks for this, and I was excited. The plan was that my sister in law Kerri, Ryan and I would run it together, but I was okay if any of us decided to run on their own. Well my son decided that he wanted to run on his own, which left Kerri and I to run together. She is definitely a faster runner than me, so I tried to encourage her to go ahead and go, but she wanted to run with me. It was great, because we talked and encouraged each other (ok, she mainly encouraged me, LOL) as we ran, just like our very first 5k we ran together in 2009.

Like I said I wasn't looking for a PR, I wanted a strong, fun, enjoyable race. That was my goal. And honestly, towards the end of the race, I thought I maybe, if I was lucky, finished with the same time as my last - around 2:30, and I was okay with that. But as we neared the finish line, I looked at the time clock and it said 2:28. Holy crap, I was going to PR. I looked at Kerri and said I'm going to PR - both us pushed on faster, and finished with the time clock saying 2:29:05. I was ecstatic . Chip time was 2:28:34, about 2 mins faster than my last 1/2, and a full 15 mins faster than my first.

 Next, I was off to find Ryan and see how he did, since I never did see him again after we started. I truly thought that he what start off fast, and then end up slowing down to run with us. Imagine my surprise to find he finished in 2:12:15, 3rd overall for his age group. I was very impressed and proud of him.

The after party wasn't too bad, we all were given 2 free beers, and bagels, water, bananas and apples. The Mayor joined the party, and was very appreciative of all the runners. All in all, this was a great run. It had a few glitches, but it was an inaugural race of West Volusia Runners club and I'm sure next year it will be even better.

Relief

I am so relieved - a big project that was due at work is finally completed. My only disappointment was that I didn't complete it by the deadline date. I am such a perfectionist at work that I have been having anxiety attacks for the past month because my project wasn't done. The thing is, too, it wasn't my fault it wasn't done. Everyone at work thinks I am the go to person, and no one would leave me alone to do what I needed to. I thought I did everything to tell people, "hey, just to let you know, I'm tied up with an important project, please take messages for me" - but calls still came through, and people still showed up in my office. So how do I prevent this from happening again? I thought I did everything - told my Chief I had to finish it and asked for permission to deny calls, and ignore people, let everyone know that I was on a time crunch and needed to devote my time to my project, told them to take messages, and let me be for a few days. Yeah, nope, that didn't happen - phone calls came through, and people invaded my office. So, my project was 30 days late - I'm so ashamed, because that has never happened before, but I can't help but think if people had actually let me concentrate on it I would have been done on time. It's like my coworkers don't think what I do is important, it's all about them.

So my next step is to be more assertive when I have a deadline and not let them walk all over me. I have the power in my position, I just need to use it. I need not to be to go to person - I have way to much work to do to do everyone else's. But I feel like because the Chief has an open door policy, I need to have one also, since I am his administrative assistant. And honestly, I like helping people, and I don't mind doing it - but not when I have a deadline, I need something that will let them know that I need them to leave me alone. Any ideas?

The good news is the project is done, and it's not due again until July. Hopefully, this time I can keep on top of it, and not have a time crunch at the deadline. I'm certainly going to try. Maybe I just need to go run - now I need to find the time.

Feeling a little old

13 years ago today, I was 8 1/2 mths pregnant, headed to work as normal. I was determined to work up until the day I delivered, so that I could spend my full 12 weeks maternity leave with my baby. Little did I know, today was the day I was starting my maternity leave. I remember this day like it was yesterday. I got to work, and it was business as usual. At about 11, 5 hours into my shift, I felt a bit funny, and realized that my water broke. Oh crap, what was I supposed to do next. After standing around for a few minutes, and gathering a few towels, I did what every normal woman in labor does - drove myself to my doctor's office that was 20 minutes away. Yeah, yeah, I know - that is not what normal women in labor do.

So I got to my doctor's office, and I was 4 cm dilated. My doctor decided that I could not drive the 2 blocks to the hospital, and needed to wait for someone to drive me. Well hubby was over an hour away at work, so luckily my mother in law came and drove me, and we waited for hubby. Well, I'm happy to say that I had the most uneventful labor ever. My insurance made us sign up for an epidural in advance, and since I'm cheap, I didn't want to waste the $100 if I didn't need one, so I didn't sign up for one. Luckily my doctor gave me painkillers that made me feel loopy, and the only eventful thing that happened in my labor was that I smacked my sister in law in the face. I have not lived that down, even 13 years later.

Ok, so fast forward to 13 years later. I now have a teenager, and while he is an awesome kid, I am starting to feel the effects of teenage hormones. Why is my sweet kid talking back? Ugh, I don't know if he and I will make it through his teenage years. My only comfort is that I know I am not alone in this. Ryan's saving grace is that is focused - he knows what he wants, and so far he isn't letting anything (and by this I mean peer pressure) derail him. I hope and pray that he stays on this track through his high school years.

So no more complaining - I have an awesome teenager. Happy Birthday to my baby, who is no longer a baby, Ryan. I hope your teen years are even better than your preteen years. You are a smart, ambitious, talented young man, and I am so proud of you.