This week was very busy. With Halloween on a Monday, and a packed weekend, we tried to keep the week relaxing, but that only worked so much.
Monday was Halloween. I got in a short run today, moving all my workouts up a bit to allow for 2 days rest before Saturday's race. Keira had ballet, and it was good to keep the kids occupied for the time after school but before trick or treating. It was a lightly attended class, though. We had a quick dinner and then got ready to trick or treat. I had mixed feeling on the time change, because it seemed strange to be so light out for trick or treating, but I don't know if we would have gotten Soren out at all in the dark. He made it a few courts before becoming so afraid of the other trick or treaters that he needed to be brought home. Thankfully, we linked up with a few of Keira's classmates so she could stay out while I ran him home to Ryan. He had gotten enough candy for his liking. Keira hit about every house in our neighborhood, and then got really afraid of one house, so we had to go a really long way around on our way home. We did make it home by 7:30 or so, and the kids stayed up about an hour or so extra.
We met up with Gracie and Sammy for a little bit, in our yard.
Tainey, Elle, Keira, and Nick
This is the house Keira refused to walk by. The decorations extended out of the picture to the right. She did not like the zombie that removed its head on the right edge of the picture.
We met back up with Gracie and Sammy again, later on.
Soren ran out to greet us as we returned.
The house with the combo of flame candles and LED candles.
Keira's Kitty Bat pumpkin and Soren's hanging bat pumpkin:
On Tuesday, Keira had a tough time getting up for school, and Soren slept in a little bit. We did make it to the gym and then storytime with plenty of time to spare. We stayed and played at the mall for a little bit too.
Soren was a bit too tired to pay good attention today.
That afternoon, the Oldham County Main Library in La Grange was showing Cars 2, and since I hadn't seen it and knew the kids would be tired today, I took them there while Ryan rode. They were really tired, but made it through the whole movie and even picked out some books and got their own library cards.
Wednesday was an early release day. I wanted some homeopathic cold medicine (since what I really like to take is a banned substance byt USAT and USATF during races) and I wanted to get used to it before Saturday, so we popped into Whole Foods. I don't think we had ever been into one, and I let Soren pick a treat from the bakery. He selected a giant pretzel, and I had a pretzel roll which really reminded me of the pretzels in Germany. Yum!
Keira wanted to hang out with me all afternoon, turning down invitations to go play with the neighbors. I think she was just worn out. She was very helpful with getting all the Halloween decorations down and put away. We have some decorations for fall that we just moved around to make it look better for Thanksgiving. The block for "In all things Give Thanks" is usually always out, but we just moved it to a more prominent location with the removal of the trick or treaters.
On Thursday, we had planned for a really relaxing day. We had a few goals, like attend a Relief Society meeting, go to Target, and pack. I had wanted to get some rest for this last minute Indy trip. We got Keira up and off to school, and then Soren and I hung out for a bit until the RS meeting time. I went outside to start the car, and it just clicked at me! Oh no! I called our neighbor Amy (who had bailed me out LAST thursday as well), and she was already over there, but came and got me. I wasn't sure if I should go or stay, I was glad I went over there. I was able to call AAA KY, and make a craft with friends while I waited for the truck to come. Amy took me home once they called, and we got the car started in the rain. AAA's verdict was that I needed a new battery, and I was going to have him put on in on the spot. However, I noticed my check engine light on. I needed to take the car somewhere to have that looked at (especially since I was planning to take the car to Indy on Fri), and opted to just have everything done at once. I went inside and called the Mazda dealership, and they were able to look at the car immediately, as well as informed me that it very well could be nothing, and just a result of the battery being completey drained (from a rear dome light left on for who knows how long by one of the kiddos). They took a look at the car, and said it was completely fine! No new battery, and even gave me a deal on the diagnosis (which I asked about in advance, since it was a possibility that nothing was wrong). They had taken time to look at the car, test drove it, and cleared the code. It was worth it for the peace of mind that the car was fine. We got home in time to get Keira, and then went to Target once she got home. Additionally, Ryan realized his wedding band was missing, and we were both unable to find it since his ride after work on Tuesday. It was a rather stressful day, but so far, with the exception of the ring, things were working out.
This tree looked really pretty with the yellow tree behind it when I went to get Keira off the bus.
Soren crashed out in front of the TV while I went to get Keira, while in full princess garb. This drives Ryan crazy, but I think it is funny.
This is the flower clip I made at church:
On Friday, I had a low key morning where I got everything packed up for my short trip to Indianapolis. We debated everyone going or just me a lot, as well as if I should go Friday or Saturday. Our decision was to have me just go on Friday, and I found a very reasonable hotel. The kids, Keira especially, was thrilled to be going over to the neighbors to wait for Ryan to come home so I could leave early enough to make it to the expo. Soren was a bit excited, but not as much as Keira.
Soren put himself in the laundry basket at the "engine" of this train. He was able to crawl under it without knocking the blanket off.
Ryan got out of work early enough to stop by Waverly, where he last saw his ring to look for it. Amazingly, it was there, in the grass! He called me with the good news while I was on my drive to Indy. He came home and took the kids to 5 Guys for dinner. I got into Indianapolis around 5:30, and went to the Expo. I am really glad I did go in the night before, because the exit I planned to use would be closed for the race the next day. I easily made it out of the city and to Noodles for dinner, and then back to my hotel. It was a very nice room for the money. I am really glad I opted for that place, it was not scary at all, and even had an indoor pool, internet, and breakfast. I only used the internet, but had the kids come, it would have been an OK place. I was a little worried when I booked it if we did change our minds and all go that it would have been tough to keep the kids there if I had the car during the race. Now we know a good inexpensive place to stay when we go to check out Indy as a family.
Race morning wasn't terribly early. I woke up right on time, a couple minutes before my 2 alarms. I got to the race start and they were still setting up! That was a bit surprising. There were a few other Aquaphor teammates, and I met up with 2 of them before, and hung out in a tent with Jennifer's friends. It was nice to be shielded from the weather, and we also opted to skip gear check and just leave our things in the tent, so that was nice as well. I was considered to be in the "seeded" section, so I was pretty close to the front. It was a big race, not as big as Detroit, but from the numbers, it was as big as Derby, but it didn't seem that big. The only corrals were for elite and 2 sections of seeded runners, and then everyone else. I ran as hard as I could, but I just couldn't keep the pace I needed to qualify to NYC. I did crazy math towards the end, never giving up, pushing the whole way, but I just couldn't hang on. The course was a little long, so my finish time of 1:41:33 doesn't accurately reflect how much faster I ran than at Detroit. If I adjust it down based on my average pace from my Garmin, it has my adjusted finish time to be 1:39:47. This is still not fast enough, but almost 3 minutes faster than Detroit. I guess to run a super fast half marathon, I need to have trained for a full marathon, which is how I ran so fast in the spring, getting even closer to NYC. I got my finsher's medal and hat, and filled it with food, and then dashed off to the car.
I made it back home and quickly took Keira and Soren over to Sammy and Hannah's 6th and 4th birthday parties. It was a pretty major event, complete with a magician and enormous bouncer! The kids had such a blast. It was so cute, Keria was really impressed by the magician. She told me he did "real" magic, by making a deck of cards appear. He was apparently a lot more impressive than the magician we saw last week at the Yew Dell, who did more comical "tricks". Her face was classic, though, as she told me about it. The rest of the party (and afternoon) were spent playing on the MASSIVE bouncer. I had fun chatting with the neighbors who were invited, and Ryan went mountain biking. I finally pried the kids away after they were fully exhausted and the party was dying down.
We had the time change on Saturday night, but the kids didn't really sleep in much. They don't get it. We had a low key morning, and the kids at a ton before church. I could tell Soren was tired, but we did OK during church. There were a lot of other tired kids at church today too. One of my students was asleep on a bench for the whole program practice, and two others, not in my class, fell asleep on the stand. It will be interesting next week when we have the program. I am worried a bit about my class, since they don't sit well and only a few have attended both practice sessions. Keira did well with her part, so that made me happy. I made pumpkin bread (since my race was over), but I didn't use apple cider. I was bummed at the difference it made. The bread was good, but not nearly as good as using cider! We finished off the night with a webcam session with Kris and Linda.
Up for next week, Keira has Tuesday off for voting day, and I have another half marathon. This one I have mixed feeling about. I initially signed up because several neighbors and ladies from church were training for it. So far, only 1 may actually run it, and it is super hilly so I never planned for it to be an NYC qualifier. I guess I'll see what happens, especially since I gave it my all on Saturday. This will be "just for fun", although my last half I did "just for fun" was my PR time of 1:38:39.
