I ran a second Ragnar Relay mid September. It started in San Francisco and ended in Calistoga. In total, our team of 12, covered 187 miles. My part consisted of 17 miles broken into 3 runs. My first was 2.7, then 9.3 (it was suppose to be 9, my Garmin said 9.3), then 5.2. I was runner 12 again also. My running didn't go as well as I wanted it to. I felt really tired from the beginning (we started Friday morning, but my first run wasn't until 5pm, and by the time I went to bed Sat night, I'd been up 40 hrs. I had bronchitis a couple weeks before the race, which didn't help my training. I'd like to blame my lack of "umph" on that, but really, it's just another excuse! Oh well! I did really enjoy my 9+miler at 3am, except I fell and got scraped up, and ran into a road sign. The road was not lit well, which is why we wear headlamps, but mine was a cheap one and didn't work. Part of it was through quiet, small town streets, most of it was away from the busy roads. It was peaceful...at times. The girls on my team were great. Most from church. We were team "San-Frantic for a Nap-a," and we ended up getting 3rd in our division.
Starting line. We wore pajamas for our team attire...to go with our name.
The team of 12 is broken into 2 vans. Here's our 6.
In our night gear.
The introspective Diana, me, and Jen. Jen is one of the preschool moms in the group Westin is in currently. Her son was born a few days before Westin. She is great.
After we each completed our first run, we had a break while the first van ran their second run. Lucky for us we were near Petaluma, with all its charm and tasty food, and ate at Graziano's. Normally I am not super impressed with restaurant pasta, because Wes KNOWS how to do pasta, but I was starving and exhausted, so I loved it.
Jade loves to watch Barney on TV, fortunately she also loves her books.
I wasn't sure the day would come, but part of the time, these two have fun with eachother! It really is the best to watch them when they are having fun, instead of attacking eachother for a toy or something. Although sometimes it is funny when they squabble. Today on the way home from church, they were both singing along to a CD we had playing. Westin likes to be a soloist and told Jade not to sing. He often tells her not to sing, and often she cries about it or pretends to cry about it. This time she looked over at him and defiantly stuck out her tongue out at him, and that was the end of that. Silence on both ends. Wes and I looked at eachother and laughed.
Last week Jade walked in the room with shoes strapped on her feet, all by herself. I had to take a picture. She is growing so quick and now speaks in short sentences. The other day she said, "No Mommy! Don't do that!" I was holding her and pretending she was a tiny new baby...and making tiny new baby noises (I'm kind of a nutcase sometimes), she clearly did not like that. She is feisty, just like her brother. About the same time, I offered her some fruit and her response, "No, I talkin' on phone." She was holding my phone up to her ear and asking, "Hello? Wanna talk on phone?" She's hilarious.
We had preschool at our house this week. Westin was naughty. He definately took advantage of the fact that class was on his turf. He is a tricky one...headstrong, stubborn, and so defiant at times! Push at him and he will push harder back. Last week naps weren't working out. He just wouldn't go to sleep, so we changed things a little. Now he has "quiet time" for an hour in his room. Funny thing is that he's fallen asleep all three times that we've done it so far. He likes things on his terms and I think I need to get used to being creative to avoid control struggles. He sure is fun though and makes me laugh and smile everyday. The other day he asked for his water and quickly added, "His name is Clifford." His water bottle has a Clifford top. A few days ago he turned to Wes and said, "Tell me about work, Dad." When he wanted to bring a container with a slug in it, in the house, and I didn't want him to he responded with, "Ohhh, but he's my friend!" He said it in such a sweet voice too. He often tells me and Wes that he loves us, usually out of the blue.
After running my last 5.2 miles in the heat, I was happy for it to be done. Fortunately I had a couple of sweet friends, Jen and Carrie, run the last mile with me, which gave me an extra push. Otherwise I think I may have walked in! Just kidding, well, maybe. 