See M run

M ran a 50-mile race last Saturday.  Yes, you read that right.  No, I did not mean to type "5-mile."  Nor did I mean to type 50 kilometer.  I meant 50 miles.  Normal people do not do this.  Normal people cannot do this.  And in my (normal) opinion, normal people should not want to do this.  But he did.  It was 50 miles at high elevation, some of it along the continental divide.  There were many many stream crossings.  There were places where the trail was so steep it was possible only to walk, not run.  There were places where there was no trail, just scree fields.  C.R.A.Z.Y.

Here he is coming into the finish:

He's not even crawling! Or sobbing! He even had enough strength left to pick up Z as he crossed the line:

We saw him twice along the course. At mile 15.7, around 8:30 in the morning, where the kids had a nice picnic breakfast while we waited:

The second time we saw him was at mile 40, around 4:00 in the afternoon. The plan had been for me to pace him from there to the finish, but my ankle is still hurting and I haven't run so much as one mile for three weeks now. Sad. But that's another story. Anyway, I probably would have slowed him down, because somehow he got a second wind and ran the last ten miles pretty fast.

The moral of this story: M is a bad ass. And slightly crazy.

I pity the fool

Before and after:

Yes, I realize the "after" shot looks like a mug shot. It was his idea, but he didn't like it until about two days after we did it. Now that all the boys in Z's preschool want mohawks too, he's decided it's pretty cool after all.  I'll try to get a happier-looking shot, one that captures the spirit of the 'do, in the next few days.

During:

Z's field day

Today it was Z's turn to have a field day.  Her school is for kids aged 18 months thru kindergarten entry, so it not quite the same as B's.  A lot less organization, but still a lot of fun.  She did a lot of random running around:

And B excelled at the obstacle course, setting a course record for the day

I won the sack race (only because nobody but me was racing):

B and I ran the three-legged race, with Z along for support:

And it wouldn't be field day if your dad didn't knock you to the ground and tickle you until you begged for mercy:

And even though it was a "baby" field day, B played along graciously and had a good time. Here he is explaining to Z all the events she's done, all marked with stickers on her ribbon:

Field Day

Today was B's last day of kindergarten.  Only it wasn't a school day -- it was field day!  They had it at a park, since his school doesn't have playing fields yet.  (They're being built this summer.)  Kids stayed with their class and competed against their classmates, and rotated around three stations:  tug-o-war, 25-yard dash, and egg & spoon race.  We started at the tug-o-war:

The event we all like the best was the 25-yard dash though. Z got to race:

I love how that little boy is leering at Z instead of watching where he's going!

I got to race, with B on my back (I'm the one in a pink t-shirt, black shorts, and blue cap, with a monkey on my back):

B ended up winning a second-place ribbon in the 25-yard dash. He was SO proud! He did great too. The kid who beat him was at least six inches taller, so I don't think B had a chance against him.

Look at the determination on this kid's face!

This is the face of a tired B:

Just because I like it

This is a closeup of part of a sculpture at The Best Park Ever. I love this sculpture. It's colory (yes, I realize this is not a real word, yet I like it anyway) -- and even two of my favorite colors -- and it's sparkly. It doesn't get any better than that.

Love

Z loves her big brother

Run like a mother

I ran a 10K race this morning.  Good times, aside from my back going into a spasm in the last mile, which somehow caused my groin muscle to also spasm.  That felt good.  But it was only a mile, so I survived.  I may not be able to walk tomorrow, but who needs to walk?

The kids ran races too.  There was a 50-yard dash for two & three year-olds, and a slightly longer dash for 6-8 year-olds.  They even got to wear numbers!  They've been very excited about racing for weeks now, and B has been regularly going out in the back yard to train -- running as fast as he can back and forth across the yard.  I was a little worried about Z -- she's not super-fond of loud noises and big crowds, and I was afraid that she wouldn't want to run a race all by herself.  Well, I worried for nothing!  She ran as fast as her little legs could carry her, and you should've seen her face when she finished -- she was so proud I thought she was going to explode!  Here we are after her race:

Here's B's race just taking off at the starting line:

And here he is mid-race (he's right on the double-yellow line in the center of the picture, wearing a long-sleeved black top and gray shorts):

And here he is coming in for a strong finish:

Here's me coming into the finish in my race (I'm #1012):

And me with my B right after the finish:

I'm pretty happy with how I ran, considering that I really made zero effort to train for this race.  I've been trying to recover from multiple injuries for the past four months, and just haven't been putting in many miles.  But my time is annoying me a little -- 1:01.  So close to being under an hour!  I know myself well enough to know that by the end of this coming week, I'll have found another 10K to run in a month or so, so I can finish in under an hour.  I'm an addict.

Z took this picture of M while I was running - I love it b/c it looks exactly like what a girl's-eye view of her daddy must look like:

After the race we headed to my parents' house for a picnic lunch with them and my brother and his wife. I'm afraid I somehow didn't take any pictures while we were there. But after lunch, while M & Z were napping (I KNOW!  It doesn't seem right that I ran a race, but M got to nap, does it?!), B and I went to The Best Park Ever. I snapped a couple pictures of him there:

Happy Mother's Day everyone!