Five Things Florida Edition

We spent the majority of the kids’ spring break in Florida. Flight prices were high and I never could snag a good deal so we decided to rent a car and drive. I swung back and forth like a pendulum on this decision, even contemplating doing Priceline for tickets when I couldn’t stomach the thought of 26+ hours in the car. Ultimately, though we stuck with the plan and the four of us and Callie headed down to warmer weather for a few days. In our thank you card to L&R and the girls, we made a top ten list – Top Ten Best Things about our Trip to Florida but of course I didn’t snap a photo so I will highlight five things about our trip.

-Easter Sunday Relaxation – this was actually the last day of our time in Florida L I started out Easter with a nice 6.2 mile run. I saw dolphins and enjoyed the warm air.  We went to brunch when C woke up from her morning nap. After that, we took some family photos and just relaxed. We had the traditional Easter egg hunt, and then capped off the fun with a water balloon fight.

In case you are curious, it takes over an hour to fill and tie 500 water balloons…and 5 minutes for the actual fight. Even though the people tying had some sore fingers, it was well worth it and we had a blast. And possibly the best part about the day…bunny cake for dinner! We were all mostly still stuffed from the big brunch, so we had cake before we hit the road about 6 PM.

-Zoo Time – we took a trip to the zoo and had a very nice time. The kids played in the water area first, but some rain showers dampened that fun after about ½ hour. So we headed over to see some animals once the rain ended. Because it was a cooler day, the animals were active and mostly all visible. The monkeys were hilarious and James may now be a certified bobcat whisperer. Lois and the girls (including Keely) left to put C down for her afternoon nap, and James and I stayed longer with Quinn so we could do the kayaking around the zoo. For $6 a person, this was well worth it. We saw lemurs and some other animals from different views and had fun slowly kayaking around the manmade river. We had a fun time!

-Beach and Pool Time – what would a trip to Florida be without some time at the beach and in the pool. The weather wasn’t great this visit, but it was still warm enough for some swimming, playing in the waves and building sand castles. We really love being just 2 blocks from the ocean and free beach access. We took two trips to the beach – one in very windy, cool conditions and one in sunny, perfect conditions (low 80s). The kids love it, and even little C got to splash in the waves!

-Playing Games – I would be remiss not to mention our nightly games. We played Anomia (of course!) one night and Indian Poker another. The game of Indian Poker lasted until nearly midnight, and Quinn was the big winner! The rest of us were just tired and may or may not have gone all-in just to be done J There were definitely a lot of laughs as usual.

-Fountain of Youth – on our way down, we stopped for the night outside Savannah, GA and then broke up the trip to Melbourne the next day with a stop to the Fountain of Youth in St. Augustine. They were pet friendly, so that was the main selling point and only James had been there before. It was a nice time, albeit windy and cooler than typical for north Florida in April. We learned about the settlers in the 1500s, saw a gun shooting and canon firing, and drank the infamous water! It was a nice diversion on the long trip.

Those are the main high points of our trip. It was a nice diversion from the busy-ness of everyday life, and we had a fun time with the family. And now I know we can survive driving through the night – although some of those hours were painfully slow and I was pretty darn tired the next day!

Top News Flashes: April Fools Edition

-Each quarter in Social Studies, Quinn has to do a project. They are given three choices in which to deliver the project – one of which always seems to include a diorama. He is very hands on and prefers creative projects so he tends to pick the diorama. His first two have been very creative and scored him high marks. For the 3^rd quarter, he chose something slightly different. He made a model of a steam engine to signify that development in United States history (the unit is mostly geared towards Westward Expansion). He used mostly Styrofoam, with some spray paint and created a very unique and creative project. Thank goodness I took pictures of the final result, because his teacher is keeping it on display in his class and he got a 100 on this effort!

-April Fool’s Day came and went without too much fanfare. Overheard at our house – Keely to James: ‘Dad, I wore flip flops to school today.’ to which he responded that she knows she is not allowed to wear sandals until the end of the year, and not flip flops at all and to which he was given a prompt ‘April Fools!’. James to Quinn when he asked what was for dinner: ‘We’re going out to eat!’ and when Quinn surprisingly asked, ‘Really?!?!’ he got a sharp ‘April Fools’! All harmless, but a little bit of fun on what was be an otherwise normal weekday.

-This weekend we visited Gunston Hall, George Mason’s home. It is located just down the road a bit, at an exit off I-95 where Quinn happens to have a basketball game each Sunday. Keely was just recently discussing learning about and seeing photos of the home in class (it’s Virginia Studies for 4^th grade) and when she saw it at the exit on a sign, she was insistent that we make a trip there. I love that she loves history and actually wants to visit places such as these (I wasn’t really like that as a child) and I love that we live so close to so many historical places. Now we have visited Mount Vernon (Geo. Washington), Monticello (Tho. Jefferson) and we hope to add Montpelier (James Madison) and Oak Hill (James Monroe) to the list this summer. Keely really wanted to compare Gunston Hall to the other two we have seen. I know she loves the fanciness of the houses, and imagining what life would have been like in those days. Something that she said fascinated me and showed me that she’s really thinking about what she is learning – why would Geo. Mason have had slaves if he believed in free rights for all people? Honestly, I could answer her other than that he was a bit ahead of his time in that belief. Anyways, the house was quite lovely and a bit more practical than the other two historic homes. I would choose Gunston…for the size and practicality of the house, and the peaceful grounds on the banks of the Potomac. I also thought it was humorous to think that in those days, Geo. Washington was his closest neighbor – because of the ease of arriving by boat. It was a lovely spring afternoon, spent exploring a lovely piece of Virginia (and really US) history.

-I have new hope for my running legs returning after two runs this weekend – one a slow, painful 4 miler and one a speedier almost pain free 4.6 miles. I am feeling stronger and I think I just need to pick my days – when I feel good, I can run but when I don’t, I probably just need to know not to push it (even if the weather is nice or if the stars align for a run). It also helped that my soccer game was canceled on Saturday due to unsafe field conditions. I think it would have prevented the good run I had yesterday…but it was also bad because now when I play again (2 weeks since the first game) I’m not sure my muscles will remember and I could end up just as sore as last time. Hopefully next time out my mind will realize that my body is not 20 and it won’t be as bad afterwards. I’m still looking forward to another game, just being a little more realistic about how far I can push this aging body.

And that’s only 4 things, but I’m going to post anyways since a new week is upon us. A little over a week until we head to Florida for some hopefully sun and fun with the family J

Last Week's Quick Hits

Friday was a hot mess at work, so I didn't even think to post the top five for the week. Thank goodness I stuck to my original plan and updated it throughout the week. So without further adieu, a belated update on the last week or so in my world...

-We attended a celebration for the end of the Keely’s basketball season. Playing basketball was something I didn’t push her into, she decided on her own that she wanted to (as she has done with most things in her life – case in point, when at age 2 she decided she was going to do ballet and I’d thought it best be time to find her a ballet class). She really enjoyed the season, though I can’t say it seems like it compares to soccer for her. But what I am grateful for is that she tried it out, learned some new skills, and says she wants to continue. She got paired with a really great coach, at random, and I couldn’t have been happier with the way it worked out. Well, except if there weren't umpteen schedule changes and a couple of games on a floor that was like a slip-n-slide making basketball pretty interesting.

-Quinn also played and finished his basketball season with ABGC. He was also paired with a great coach, who has seen in him promise and has helped to encourage Quinn’s strengths (defense) and work on his weaknesses (shooting and offense). He’s not really a team sport child, so I love that he showed the desire to play and now has joined a second league to play for another 8 weeks or so. He had the first game with the other league on Sunday (same coach, and most of the same players from his ABGC team). They won by 1 point in OT, and were so thrilled – especially because they only had 5 players!

-My first soccer game was canceled – because of, you guessed it, snow! As we quickly approach April, I am looking out at snow covered grounds yet again. Can anyone spell F-L-O-R-I-D-A? Because that’s where you may find us living after this long winter!

 -Keely finished up a 7 week session of indoor soccer last weekend. Their team has improved quite a bit, and they won most of their games and were competitive in all but one game when they lost. Most surprising is that Keely found a like (I won’t go so far as love) for playing goalie. I coached the 2^nd game and had to put her in goal because there just aren’t enough girls on her team willing to play that position, and she was a fireball. She rocked it, I didn’t even know who that girl was – and after that, she played in goal each game and even started in goal playing most of the first half in the last game. James hit the nail on the head crediting playing basketball for her improved use of hands because now she knows she can catch a ball that big and isn’t afraid. She even says she wants to play goal when they start outdoor in a couple of weeks. I’m sure her skills are better used on the field, but it’s nice that she’s willing to try different things!

-I played my first soccer game on Saturday. Keely came and watched, my faithful cheerleader because it was raining the entire time. Once you were wet, it was fine. And thankfully it was a warm rain. I was nervous, but needn’t have been. I fell back into it, and was definitely one of the better players on the field. I played every position except goal, scored one goal, and our team won 6-1. It was a great game, and then reality set in. I am S.O.R.E. all capitals well deserved! Two days later, it’s not much better and I’m just hoping and praying that it gets better each time I play. I can’t be in this.much.pain after each game! But boy, was it fun. And for now, that makes the pain so worth it. I loved that Keely got to see me play, and I loved hearing her cheer ‘Go, Mom’ J

Trying Something New - Top 5

• We started this week with yet another snowstorm. This winter is like the gift that keeps on giving J We got another 10” or so, and school was canceled for the 11^th day this year. I even got to work from home. Because it was St. Patrick’s Day, Quinn made a shamrock in snow using green food coloring.
• Keely’s heading to Jamestown on May 1. She is super excited and has honestly been looking forward to this trip since Quinn went two years ago! There was some uncertainty about whether MC would go, but apparently they do the same as BT for 4^th graders.
• Quinn took the first step in qualifying to take Algebra 1 (a HS math class) next year in 7^th grade by achieving a 95^th percentile on the Iowa Math Tests. He also has to get above a 500 on his SOLs later this year, and then will need a recommendation from his math teachers. We are proud of him! This does seem to come naturally though so I guess he got some of this math brain from James and I J
• I went out for two runs – one on Saturday of 20 minutes and one on Thursday of 25 minutes. I’m focusing on adding time, not distance and running at a comfortable leisurely pace as I continue to test the waters. These runs are not pain free, and honestly I sometimes wonder if I’ve literally ‘had a good run’ with distance running and may just need to focus on other areas to stay physically fit.
• We continued to talk and talk and talk about our plans for Spring Break. We are most likely renting a car and driving to Florida but the exact dates and any stops along the way are undecided.

I go back and forth on the blog and how to shape it into something I can maintain. I need it not to feel like a chore, yet I continue to feel guilty because of not updating it. I feel like I only capture the ‘big events’ and not enough of everyday life. But then I wonder what the purpose of capturing everyday life is – will I feel better reading about birthdays and holidays, or reading about the minutia of everyday life when I get older and wistful for times past? I guess I need to decide, because ultimately I write this mostly for myself. I do think Keely will read it at some point because she very much likes to hear stories of the past, about herself and our family. So for now, I’ll try this Top 5 format. Maybe I can update it more on a daily basis and publish each week. We’ll see how it goes, but it can’t be worse than posting nothing and feeling guilty about it J

A Light at the End of the Tunnel…or Staying Healthy

I started having pains in my left leg when running back in October. I presumed it was a hamstring issue, stemming from my high hamstring and that it would either get worse causing me to stop running or it would go away. It persisted though, and just became a nagging issue through the end of December. However, let it be known that I had three PRs with this issue…including my best 5 mile at the Born to Run and my best half marathon at the Wilson Bridge both in November. So it was an issue, but one that clearly didn’t prevent me from running at my best. Or so I thought. By the end of December, I was through with it. I decided it wasn’t going to go away with my current course of action so I stopped running and made an appointment with my orthopedist. At the end of 2013, my goals for 2014 included balancing my running with other activities, i.e. cross training and strength training so that I would be a better runner. Now I am even more convinced of that goal, and I am working to make it a reality. I ran minimal miles in January and didn’t run a mile in February. The diagnosis from my orthopedist was not a hamstring issue, but a nerve issue that he thought stemmed from my lower back. I did have resident pain in my lower back but I didn’t connect it to the leg pain. I thought this was plausible, but the nerve pain could either be from lower back or piriformis syndrome. I now think it was (is) both. To date, I have been through 6 PT sessions and am in the middle of 13 chiropractic adjustments. PT was good for teaching me strengthening and stretching exercises for my core, lower back, hips and upper legs. But the pain was still there so I decided to try a chiropractor. 

At this point, I am beginning to see the light at the end of this tunnel. I am feeling stronger and getting healthier. My pain is lowering with each day, and I believe it’s either the chiropractor or time off from running. I have tried two runs in the past week – the first 8-10 minutes and the second for 15 minutes – with good success. I know that’s not going to be a magic bullet but I did want to test the waters. I still hope and pray that this issue doesn’t come back, or flare up again but I do know that’s a possibility as I try to increase distance and mileage. But as much as I know I love running, I also now know that I value being healthy over that livelihood. I have found other ways to stay active – finally using my gym membership to take classes and work out. I vary my workouts to elliptical, stationary bike, rowing, yoga, and an occasional kickboxing or Zumba class although I am very careful with my back in these types of classes. I also do core and strength work at home including squats, lunges, and a lot of stretching. I know I could always be doing more but I have a lot of variety right now and it’s hard to fit any one thing in more than 1-2 times a week. When I add running in, I’m going to have to maintain more of a strict schedule with my non-running days. Truth be told, I’m lazy some days and I am quick to push the workout to the next day. With the long, cold winter we’ve had, it’s been easy to fall into that lazy mode. I actually haven’t missed running as much as I thought I would. It’s no longer the be-all, end-all for me. I know that there is life outside running, and I’m embracing that. I want to add running back into my workout, but not for the sake of injury. I plan to run three times a week – one speedwork, one tempo, and one long slow easy run. Long may start out 4 but I need to work it up to 8-10. I have a half marathon on May 4^th that I plan to use as a test to see if I can cover the distance. I have another half on June 8^th – depending on how my return to running goes, I tentatively plan to PR in that race. But my perspective has changed greatly. I really miss the camaraderie of running with my friends, and the joy of running with some great music. I don’t miss trying to beat paces and increase mileage. I just want to run for fun, and mostly I just want it to be pain free. If I can't do that, then I am not sure it's worth it. As another aspect of cross-training, I have joined an over-30 women's soccer team! This will be my first outdoor experience since college and I'm nervous but excited. On weeks with a soccer game, I will consider this my 'speed' workout. I know I'm not in soccer shape but my goals are to be competitive with the other women on my team and the league, have fun and stay active! 

I'm not sure how to wrap this up, other than to say I have learned a lot about myself these last few months and weeks. I have challenged myself in ways other than running, while giving my body and mind time to recharge and focus on priorities. I hope that's been helpful, but time will tell!

2013 Wrap Up

The holidays were a whirlwind. It was pretty typical, from a tradition perspective. At the same time, it was untraditional in some respects. This was the first year since Keely was an infant (2 months old) that we traveled out of our home for Christmas Eve and Christmas morning. For those keeping track, that’s 10 years! It was also the first time in my life that we went to church on Christmas Day instead of Christmas Eve. For those keeping track on that one, that’s 37 years (!) since I had another birthday right before Christmas.

We had the Florida Donovan Torviks visiting us this year, so we had four additional people at our house from the 21^st to the 2^nd…minus the time we were all in New Jersey (5-6 nights). We enjoyed having them stay with us, and the kids all got lots of cousin time. We even got all of the Donovan cousins together in New Jersey for a couple of days. This holiday season might also go down as one of the most unphotographed…I just don’t feel like we took a lot of photos.

The kids were very blessed, err…spoiled, this Christmas. They both received iPod Nanos from Mom & Dad along with some iTunes gift cards. They got lots of other gifts from Santa, grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc. One of my favorite things about this Christmas though is their generosity with each other and their cousins. They took money that they make from odd jobs (Quinn from leaf raking and lawn mowing, Keely from cat sitting) and used the money to buy gifts for each other and each of their cousins. They weren’t gifts of high monetary value (love Five Below…each gift was $5) but they were well thought out gifts for each person. They also wrapped and labeled each gift themselves. This wasn’t something they were prompted to do, it was something they chose to do on their own. Once in a while, you get a glimpse of the person they are becoming and this was one of those times. They got to truly experience the joy of gift giving, instead of just receiving and I think it was wonderful.

So what else? We spent five nights in New Jersey, and as seems to be typical had many Christmas celebrations. We spent Christmas Eve and morning with the Donovans. Another non-tradition was having pizza on Christmas Eve for dinner. That’s not the norm, but it was an easy and non-stressful way to feed the 10 of us. I’m all for non-stress, as this year especially I felt Christmas and the weeks leading up to it to be a series of tasks I had to manage and complete. It felt like a chore, and it wasn’t all that enjoyable. In any event, as it typically does it all came together and I had no reason to stress. So back to Christmas Day, after opening presents and having a nice home cooked breakfast (Ryan and I were on that one) we showered and dressed for church. After church, we headed to my parents for the rest of the day and night. We celebrated with dinner, drinks, dessert, etc. with all of my aunts, uncles and cousins and it was quite enjoyable. It was a smaller, manageable group and this year it was catered which made it much less stressful for my mom (that’s where I get my tendency to stress!). The next morning, we did Christmas morning all over again on a smaller scale with Nana, Papa and Aunt Annie. Unfortunately, Quinn got sick that morning – though it was after he opened his presents. It seems he had a small 24 hour bug so we quarantined him at my parents’ (thanks to Nana for taking care of him) and went ice skating with Keely. The next day, we went bowling and Quinn was feeling up to coming along. Keely also had a sleepover at Annie’s and they had a blast. Friday night we had a lovely dinner with Uncle Joe and J.R. and that completed seeing my mom’s side of the family. Saturday it was back to the Donovans’ to see the North Carolina bunch and have all of the cousins together. 

Sunday was a special day – Cecilia’s baptism. I was honored to be her Godmother and it was a nice ceremony followed by lunch at Grandma & Grandpa’s. Then we headed back home to Virginia…we were happy to have a few days at home before school and work started back up.New Year’s was pretty quiet…but we had fun ringing in 2014 with some games and appetizers for dinner. Oh, and in the course of all of these events, Lois and I managed to run 30+ miles together  :)

It was a lovely holiday season…surrounded by those we love, and that is what is most important. We are very blessed indeed!

November PRs

From a running perspective, November was a great month for me. I started with the huge PR on my half marathon time at the Wilson Bridge Half, finishing in 2:01:28. I am so very close to my goal of beating 2 hours, and I know that’s going to be a reality in 2014. I also entered two other ‘races’ and had PRs in both. I put races in quotes because one was an event with the moms running group I belong to (MRTT) and wasn’t an official event, but we did time ourselves so I still count it.

A couple of ladies decided it would be fun to have a mile race just to see how fast we could run if we were only running for one mile. I was always curious too, because I never just do one mile. If I put it all out there, what could I do that mile in? So we did just that. I knew it would hurt, and I knew I needed to push myself.  I started out a little faster that I should have and faded a bit, but it was hard to know how to pace for a one mile race. I actually think it would have been easier on a track because you can easily see how you are doing for each quarter mile (lap). The weather was very cold and windy, and we ended up with the headwind the entire mile. Excuses, excuses, I know so here is the time: 7:37. I think without the headwind, I could have run closer to 7 minutes. I started out running a 7:15 pace and faded, and I think that was mostly due to the headwind. It was so strong that I was crying from the wind. Anyways, we are planning to do this every few months to see how we improve so I’m eager to try again and see how close I can get to a 7 minute mile…and gasp, even possibly a sub-7 minute mile. I never ran the mile hard in high school so I have no idea how fast I was when I was younger, but I’m happy to be able to push the paces in my (gasp, again) late 30s.

Lastly, I entered a 5 mile race in Freehold while we were in New Jersey for Thanksgiving. I have never run a 5 mile race so this was an obvious PR for me. But I did set a goal to run sub 45 minutes (9 minute miles or better). The course starts out downhill and then has some rolling hills, a flat loop around a lake and then finishes up the hills you ran down in the beginning. I knew to pace myself for the hills at the end, and I didn’t think a negative split would be possible so I wanted to start out fast and give myself some breathing room at the end for those hills. I did just that, starting out at about 8 minute mile pace. Maybe more like 8:15 pace, but it felt very comfortable. I kept looking at my Garmin thinking I’d be slipping with my pace, but I held very steady. The pace felt comfortable the entire race so I just went with it. I did slow down a bit in the last 2 miles because of those hills, but I still maintained around an 8:30 pace. I ended up crushing my goal and finishing in 41:28 – an average of 8:19 for 5 miles! I was 7^th in my age group…it was a small race but still, a top 10 finish in women aged 30-39.  I was very proud of myself, and I felt pretty accomplished. I think with a smart attack, I can beat 40 minutes in my next 5 miler. Of course, I have no idea when that will be.

While I'm on the subject of running, here are my goals for 2014:

Break 2 hours for a Half Marathon – see notes above. I definitely think this is an achievable goal for my next half.

Run 1,000 miles – this should be very attainable, considering I’m going to break 800 for 2013 and I started out the year running pretty minimally. I just need to be more consistent – and if I end up doing a fall marathon again like I am considering, I will crush that. Even without a marathon, I can still do a 1,000 with just 20 miles per week – very manageable.

Run a 5K for time – After my 5 mile PR, I am very curious how fast I could run a 5K. With my one mile time below 8 minutes, I am pretty confident I can break 24 minutes but I’m not sure how much below that I can push. Again, it’s just a matter of pushing myself and I almost never just run 3.1 miles so I really don’t know what I am capable of in that distance.

Strength train and cross train more – I believe being well rounded will make me a better runner. I’ve already started to include yoga once a week and I love it. It’s so good to stretch and flex, and I know it’s helping my sore muscles. I also want to include some strength training to build up my muscle endurance. I used to do that once a week but I have gotten away from it when I started running consistently. I want to incorporate that once again and I know it will help my running.

Break 4 hours in a marathon – I know I said I wasn’t sure I would run a marathon again, and I’m still not sure. But I have this nagging feeling that I can improve my time, and I feel I would be regret it if I didn’t give it a shot. I think a Spring Marathon is too much, but I feel a Fall Marathon would work for me. The only thing that worries me is my left foot. I’m not sure the bunionectomy can hold up for another marathon training cycle, especially if I am pushing myself to faster paces in hopes of a better time. So this is a maybe goal, I will likely decide once 2014 is underway.