Boulder Half Marathon

Last Sunday Bill and I ran the Boulder Half Marathon together. I spent the last 6 weeks training for it, with recovery runs on Tuesdays and Fridays, speed work on Thursdays, and long runs on Sundays. We finished with a time of 2:11, which was a 13 minute improvement from my time last year, on a tougher course (very few spectators, up hill or rolling hills the entire way), at 5500 ft. Bill helped me to keep pace and filled up my water bottles along the way. I am so happy that he decided to run with me instead of at his own pace, I really could not have accomplished this without him.

It was a tough course for me but I was well below 10 minute pace (about 9:47) until the last quarter mile when I just about lost it going up the last hill. I barely made it to the finish line and wound up on the ground in the medical tent afterwards with an iv of fluids. When I wasn’t doing much better after 15 minutes or so I was taken to the hospital in an ambulance (first and hopefully last ambulance trip) for two more iv’s and felt almost 100% better by the time we arrived. Long story short, I was incredibly dehydrated, even after drinking 9 bottles of water/Skratch mix and having several Gu’s. Thankfully it didn’t hit me until the very end of the race and I was able to finish. Let’s just say a Camelback hydration backpack is on my x-mas wish list!

Thanks to Courtney for babysitting and Nana for relieving her since we were at the hospital!

For the complete set of photos, click here.

Robin at 17 Months

Robin at 17 Months

Robin at 17 Months

At 17 Months Robin is always zipping around the house getting into things and following her sister. She loves baby dolls (“baby” is one of her favorite words) and bicycles/scooters as well as putting clothes, socks and shoes on repeatedly. She calls Lilly ‘Ly Ly’ and REALLY wants to play with Lilly at Sunflower. Dropping her off and picking her up during the week is almost comical as Robin runs around like crazy checking everything out. At this point it is impossible to ‘contain’ her in a carrier, etc. so the teachers are always helping me out and chasing after Robin while I get Lilly settled and then I have to take her away kicking and screaming. Also, Robin’s ‘shy look’ is quite the topic of conversation among people who first meet her.

The past week or so R has experienced some significant separation anxiety and sleep regression – she has a hard time settling down at night and wakes up more frequently. Twice this past week she was up for 2+ hours in the middle of the night and it was extremely difficult to get her to go back to sleep. Lilly went through the same thing around this age, not a fun phase!

We love you, Robin!

ly ly
attachment
sleep regression

Ironman 140.6 Training

As of last month Bill is in ‘pre-training’ for the Ironman 140.6 in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho next June. That’s a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, and 26.2 mile run. He has hired Michael Stone, owner of Colorado Multisport and 10-time Ironman triathlete, coach, trainer, author, and speaker to be his coach. Michael was the 2010 and 2012 Xterra (‘offroad’ Ironman) USA Divisional Champion and place 3rd at the World Championship in Hawaii this year. Oh, and he’s legally blind. What an amazing and inspiring man!

We support Bill and his goals and are so excited to see what changes and accomplishments this next year will bring for him. Go Daddy, go!

Lilly’s First ‘Independent’ Swim Class!

Lilly had her first independent swim lesson for 3 year old’s today at the East Boulder Community Center. She had been talking about this all week and the first thing she said when she woke up was, “today is a very special day, today I’m going to swim class!!”. The children’s pool was closed for maintenance so the class was held in the adult lap pool which is kept 10 degrees cooler so she was a bit cold but had a smile from ear to ear the entire time! Lilly is excited to learn to swim like a “BIG fish”!

Spanish Conversation Course

Last Wednesday I started a weekly advanced Spanish conversation course that I’m really excited about! I heard about this through my hairdresser, oddly enough, and it’s exactly what I’ve been looking for. We meet on Wednesday’s from 10-12 and read various pieces of literature before every class which we discuss and review and move on to various topics, current events, etc. The group is made up of 6 women who all love Spanish language and culture and have either lived abroad with their families in Spanish speaking countries for several years (I’m the youngest by 10+ years), were Spanish majors in college, or teach at the bilingual school. The class has already helped me get my ‘confidence’ back with the language and I’ve been inspired to start reading more and do more with the girls in Spanish. The women are also an excellent resource to various programs, events, and schools in the area that will allow me to use my Spanish.

Robin spends 2.5 hours in the morning at the YWCA child care while I take this class. It is her first experience in a child care environment. I’ve heard good reports so far, so fingers crossed!

http://www.betterspanishnow.com/

First Day of School!

Lilly was excited for her first school day at Sunflower Preschool (2012) this morning! It was an easy transition for her since she has been attending summer camp at the same school. Most of the kids at summer camp will be at school with her this year, including her ‘most favorite’ friend Mack. I biked both girls to Sunflower this morning, they do really great in the bike trailer together. Can’t wait to pick Lilly up at 12:30!

Fall Class Lineup

Welcome, Fall!

Here’s our class lineup beginning in September. We are busy bees!

M- Lilly, Sunflower Preschool 8:30-12:30
Mommy & Robin, Music Together 9-10 at the Boulder Piano Gallery

T- Lilly, Art Exploration at Clementine Art Studio
(this is a drop off class for Lilly, Mommy & Robin go for a walk/park)

W- Lilly, Sunflower Preschool 8:30-12:30
Robin plays at YWCA and Mommy has an advanced Spanish conversation class (10-12)!
http://www.betterspanishnow.com/

R- Lilly, Sunflower Preschool 8:30-12:30 (music day with Ms. Kelye and show and tell)
Mommy gets a workout in while Robin plays in childcare at the North Boulder Rec Center
OR Storytime at Boulder Public Library

F- Lilly, Sunflower Preschool 8:30-12:30 (yoga day!)
Mommy & Robin, Grocery shopping at Whole Foods followed by Gym Jam at South Boulder Rec Center

S- Lilly, 10am independent swim lesson for ‘3’s’ at East Boulder Rec Center

Labor Day 2012

Labor Day is always a fun celebration of family and the end of Summer and this year was our best one yet. We spent our weekend biking the girls down to the Farmer’s Market and various festivals and even headed to Louisville for a local dog show and bouncy castles galore. We had beautiful weather and the girls had fun playing games – Lilly especially loved the ‘water bubble’ game! Sad to see the Summer come to an end but ready to embrace the Fall!

Robin at 16 Months

Robin at 16 Months

Robin at 16 Months

Robin, oh Robin. At 16 months Robin is a dancing, singing, laughing, and eating machine. She spends her day indoors either by her sister’s side or in my arm’s, but plays well independently when we leave the house to go to the park, playdates, etc. Robin has an almost comical fear of airplanes and trucks (loud, unexpected noises) and actually climbs or jumps into my arms whenever she hears one. She loooves music and sings “la la la la la” throughout the day while dancing in circles.

There is something very special that attracts people’s attention to Robin wherever we go. People stop and make a point to tell us how adorable she is all the time – today we were eating lunch in the park by the Farmer’s Market and Robin was toddling around the groups of people on picnic blankets. The number of “oh my God that girl is so cute”(s) that we heard was more than we could count. She has an unusual ability to make people laugh and smile just by being herself.

Robin is saying new works all the time now, some of which are pronounced incorrectly of course but we know exactly what she’s saying. “Gook” is book while “gock” is park, and “da-ddy” refers to Bill while “dah-dee” refers to her paci, lol.

She has developed the *bad habit* of climbing the table to eat food scraps after meals and will often times eat her dinner and then finish all of Lilly’s. We love how her chubby cheeks and curls bounce when she toddles around the room. <3

Pro Cycling Tour in Boulder

Bob Roll!

Bob Roll!

Levi in yellow

Levi in yellow

The USA Pro Cycling Challenge finished it’s road race in Boulder and we had an incredible time welcoming the cyclists and celebrating with the rest of the town. We first watched the racers come by our nieghborhood off of Broadway around noon with Lilly, Boppa, and Aunt Martha, then Bill and I biked towards the race finish while the girls stayed home with Nana (Aunt Martha and Boppa, too). Bill has biked to the top of the Flagstaff summit a dozen or so times but I’ve never considered taking the challenge. We were planning to walk the 4.1 miles to the top but at the last minute Bill ‘suggested’ we ride to the first bike corral up the hill, then the next, then the next until we had biked all the way up to the finish. In the end it felt great and I plan to head back up next weekend (it didn’t hurt that people were already lined up along the way cheering us on).

We had a great spot at 50m to the finish line and nothing can describe how excited everyone was to see the finish. 22 of the pros reside in Boulder and we certainly had a great turnout to support them. 30,000 people walked or biked up to the summit (not to mention the thousands who lined the streets of Boulder and surrounding towns) to watch the race and many are calling this day of the tour the biggest in USA cycling history. Bill and I have logged in many hours watching the tours on tv, seeing this in person (and meeting Bob Roll) was one of the biggest highlights of our summer!

For the complete set of photos, click here.