Hop Hop Half Marathon - 3/26/16

The day started early, as race day usually does.  The 6:00am wake-up time came much faster than I cared for, but there wasn't anything I could do about it.  The weather forecast predicted rain and chilly temperatures in the upper 4os to lower 50s (fahrenheit, obviously) but thankfully no wind.  

Corky and I got up, got dressed, had toast (Corky) and oatmeal (me) for breakfast and left Mara with his mom, who had spent the night.  We drove out to the Kliever Armory where the race began.

Once we parked, we took some pre-race pictures.

It was COLD!

Nice outfit, right?

I was really excited for this race because of the course.  Kliever Armory is next door neighbors, basically, with Portland International Airport (PDX).  And you know what THAT means..... AIRPLANES!!!!! :)

The course for the race would take us right along Marine Drive which traces the edge of the Columbia river and borders one of PDX's main runways.  So this meant that I got to combine 2 of my favorite pastimes - running and plane watching!  I saw a plethora of Alaska Airlines planes (737s and Q-400s) take off and land, a few Southwest 737s and some Delta Airbuses made appearances too.

We started off at 8:00am sharp.  I was listening to my iPod this time, in hopes of keeping my mind off the torture I was putting my body through.  (Note: it worked!)  I actually enjoyed it.  I was listening to Zumba music, of course, and would speed up my pace during the choruses of the songs and slow down during the verses.  It kept my pace between 8:30 and 9:00 per mile for the first 4 or 5 miles.

Unfortunately, it appears that I am one of the unlucky runners who suffers from GI problems during long races or training runs.  I had the same issue during the Holiday Half back in December, but I had thought it was just due to coming off the stomach flu a week prior.  I noticed it a few times during my long training runs (5+ miles) but thought nothing of it.  It wasn't until it occurred again during and after this race that I realized that this is actually an issue for me.  I Googled it and apparently it's not entirely uncommon.  Anyway, I'll spare you the gross details but let's just say, again, thank goodness for strategically placed port-a-potties!  

I would have placed higher, I'm sure, if I hadn't had to use the bathroom twice during the race.  UGH!  I was near the front of the pack, too.  Oh well.

In the end, I placed 178th out of 591, and shaved 5 minutes off my time from December, finishing at 1:55:24.  Not bad, not bad.  My next race is July 4th, another half marathon.  Maybe I can do even better next time!

A post-race celebration picture...

Despite feeling very proud of myself, I had stomach issues for the rest of the day and half of the next day.  I'm going to have to do some research and see if there is any way I can try to be proactive about this and keep it from becoming such an issue for the next race.  Or maybe I'm just doomed to be close to a bathroom for 24 hours every time I run a race.  We'll see.

Corky had to go to to work after the race, as it was on a Saturday and his days off are Sunday and Monday.  Which meant that I had the task of looking after Mara the rest of the day.  Wouldn't you know it, she refused to nap.  So I called my dad and asked him to come over and help me chase the kid around because I could barely move I was so tired. Lol!

We played dress-up (yes, even my dad, although I failed to get a picture) and went to the park.  It was a pretty great day!

Princess Mara in her Snow White tutu.  It's funny, I told her

"say Princess!" and she said, "Poop-cess!"  I almost died.

Mara and BaPa at the park!

A girl and her doggie. <3

The Best Easter Ever 2016

I'll post later about the half marathon that we ran on 3/26, but this post is going to be a picture dump about Mara's Magical Easter!

Mara woke up early on Easter Sunday, about 6:30am.  Her sleeping has kind of been all over the place lately.  Corky was still asleep and we were both really sore from the race the day before, so I got up with Mara and let him sleep in.  We packed up and went to Starbucks in our pajamas for breakfast.  Mara had chocolate milk, I had coffee, and we shared a piece of banana bread.  She loved it!

After we were sufficiently sugared-up (mostly in the case of Mara), we headed next door to Barnes & Noble when it opened at 9:00, and wandered around in there for a while.   Mara enjoyed the Duplo Blocks.

Mara discovered that they sold Skip Hop backpacks and instantly fell in love with this one.  I'm not sure what it is... a hippo/unicorn mix... a HippoCorn?  Anyway.  She carried it all around the store and it was only $19.99 so.... yeah.  It came home with us.

Corky woke up with a cold, so Mara and I decided to stay out of his hair for the most part.  After her nap, we went off to OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry) with my mom and played there for most of the afternoon.  Mara had a blast!

In the earthquake exhibit, building a bridge.

Snack break for graham crackers & juice!

In the nature exhibit.

In the eagle's nest!

Mara the eagle.

Playing with monkeys.

At the market!

Just stirring up something...

I told my mom that Mara was mimicking me cooking.  My mom said, "Kate, you

do most of your stirring in a colander with a whisk, don't you?" Lol.  I said

"Oh, yes, always!" Haha.

We shut down OMSI at 5:30 and headed home.  Mara still had excess energy, so for dinner we decided to take her to Out Of This World Pizza & Play.  It's this outer space themed pizza place with a huge play structure for big kids and then a little are for 2 and under.  They have a massive salad bar and pizza buffet and Mara loves it.  Corky does too, for that matter.  So off we went!  More playing!

Drinking water like a big girl!

Mmmm pizza!

Chillin'.

All in all, it was a great day.  Mara was in a good mood for almost all of it and had a blast everywhere we went.  Normally I don't enjoy Easter all that much but this year was nice!

Canada Trip Pictures - WHITECOURT/EDMONTON and TRAVEL (Part 4)

Almost there!!! We can do it!!!

Our last full day in Canada was Saturday.  We headed back to Edmonton to stay overnight before our flight on Sunday because the airport is in Edmonton.  Before we left, we hung out around Glenna's house for a while.

Glenna experimenting with TWO babies!  Yikes!

Quite a handful!  (Check out Mara's bedhead!)

That evening in Edmonton, Corky and Justin went to another Oilers game with Glenna's parents.  They sat in the 4th row!  Glenna and I stayed home with the kids and watched the game on TV, drank tea and chatted (once the babies went to bed.)  It was awesome!!  We also took pictures, of course, because that's what we do!

My favorite picture that Glenna has ever

taken of me!  Love it.

The next day, after breakfast, we packed up and headed to the airport.  It always sucks leaving Canada.... I love my bestie and we don't get to see each other all that often.  But I know we'll keep doing this inter-country jaunt because that's what friends do for each other. We make it work.

Mara had fun playing around in the EIA International terminal.  Funny kid!

We flew back to Portland, through some of the craziest turbulence I've ever experienced (and I've been flying my whole life.)  It was pretty freaky!  Mara, for her part, thought it was hilarious and screamed with delight every time the plane would drop.  Well, at least she wasn't terrified!  Can't say the same for the rest of the plane.  Anyway, we made it back safely.  

It was a great trip.  Can't wait to do it again!

Canada Trip Pictures - WHITECOURT (Part 3)

Hopefully these parts won't get out of order!  We'll just see!

I forgot to post in the previous part a picture I took on the way to Whitecourt:

The weather was lovely as you can see. I think

it might actually have been warmer in Canada

than it was here at home!  Weird!!!

Here are a few random shots from hanging around in Whitecourt....

Old Dutch!

#selfie

Mara was waving to the Jesus statue on our walk :D

My 2 favorite snuggle bugs!

The time in Whitecourt kind of blurs together in my mind.  For one thing, a lot of it was spent just hanging out and relaxing at Glenna's house.  Our families get along so well together that the time just flew!  Secondly, Mara's sleep got worse and worse as the days went by so by the time we left to come home, I had no idea what day it was.  (Add daylight savings time and we were totally lost.)

One of the days, Glenna and I took the kiddos for a walk to a playground.  It was not too cold (despite the snow on the ground) and the kids had a good time!

That same night, Glenna's friends came over and we celebrated her birthday again with ICE CREAM CAKE!!!!! yummy!  We had tacos for dinner and as I was trying to help prepare the toppings, Mara decided she needed to be held RIGHT THEN.

M.O.M. - Master Of Multitasking

Cheesin' with the bestie!!! <3 <3 <3

Canada Trip Pictures - EDMONTON (Part 1)

***NOTE, somehow this one got put SECOND, after part 2!  Read this first, then part 2. :)

Okay... this one is going to be a doozy.  We took SO MANY PICTURES!  So here goes:

So first we were in Edmonton, staying with my bestie's family.  We were there from Sunday through Wednesday afternoon and we did SO MUCH in that short space of time!

Tim Horton's Steeped Tea!!!! I was 

so excited!!!!

Glenna got Mara a little Edmonton

Oiler's shirt... how cute.

Mara plays with a toy later in her PJs

The next morning.......

Zzzzz Mara!

The following day was Monday.  This was the day we went to West Edmonton Mall and did the waterpark.  See a few posts ago called The Cyclone for more in-depth examination of what we did there.  It was fun!  The kids had a blast.  After we finished there, Glenna and I went to one of the three (yes, THREE) tattoo shops inside W.E.M. and booked an appointment for the following day to get our Matching Bestie Tattoos that we'd been wanting forever.

Pre ink...

We got matching tiny teacup tattoos on our ribs. :)

And after we were done there, we went to Build-A-Bear and made stuffed animals for our kids.  I made Mara a Canadian Moose to represent her trip to Canada.  It's adorable.  I named it Buddy.  He even has a dragon hoodie on - complete with holes for his antlers to stick through!  

Buddy!

On Tuesday night, Glenna and her husband Justin took us to an Edmonton Oilers hockey game.  It was not only my first NHL game but my first hockey game, period!  We don't have an NHL team here in Portland.  Anyway, when we got in, Corky started talking to this usher guy and he let us go down to the basement section where the players walk out from their locker room through these huge doors that say Oilers.  All the rich people go down there, or the people who pay a bunch of money for their tickets.  It was so cool!  We went down there and within minutes the players came walking through.  Once they left, we took a photo in front of the Oiler doors.

Here we are in front of the doors.  Justin hadn't 

yet arrived from work at this point.

Corky photobombed us

And Justin photobombed us too.

Corky and me posing after the game ended 

(Oilers lost.  Boo!)

I should take a moment to mention that we did see a few little skirmishes in the game and one BIG fight.  One of the Oilers players beat up a guy from the San Jose team so bad he bled all over the place.  I found it endlessly amusing that the Edmonton player involved in the fight had the last name of Nurse.  The irony!  No one else seemed to think that was as funny as I did.. Oh well... I guess I'm easily amused! ;)