The Schwartz's vs 36 hours

I never watched the show 24 but my parents did.  And right now I have that annoying beeping clock sound from the show in my head anytime I look at a clock.  In a little over 36 hours I'll be awake going through the motions to get ready for a race.  I'll wake up before the sun and go through all my pre-race to do's.  I'll pee about 15 times in the space of an hour without ever drinking a drop of water.  It's just what I do.  And I'll pray to the port-a-potty gods that I finish the other business before I leave my hotel room.  (Potty jokes! Maybe some of the old me did survive this training.  Ah, good times.)

Tick Toc.  Tick Toc.

I'll nervously try to eat something for breakfast though I'm not sure what that will be.  I've never had to think about how much carbs I'll need for a race of this magnitude.

Tick Toc.  Tick Toc.

I'll slather an entire stick of body glide every where I can think and hope it works.  I've only ever chaffed twice.  And both times were TERRIBLE!  But the one time I chaffed during this training was way worse than the other time.  I wanted to die for days until it healed up.

Tick Toc.  Tick Toc.

I'll head down to the corrals I guess.  I'm not sure if they'll be corrals or what exactly this is going to look like.  But I know I have to be there early so I can set up my transition area, get body marked, and think about warming up.  Never warmed up before a race before.  But I've also never done a race like this.

Tick Toc.  Tick Toc.

In a little over 36 hours I'll be face to face with what I thought was the greatest idea ever that somewhere along the way has turned into my worst nightmare.  And right now, the clock just isn't my friend.  I haven't really talked about what I've been training for on the blog which to me is actually a little funny because if you've talked face to face with me in the past 3 months I've worked it into the conversation at least a dozen times.  Not in a braggy way, but in a this-is-completely-consuming-my-thoughts kind of way.  But I haven't blogged about it for a couple of reasons 1) I firmly believe no one cares or wants to read about what I'm doing.  Y'all come here to read about my kids and look at their cute pictures.  And 2) my most important blog rule (which recently got lampooned by a friend) is "Don't Blog Angry".  That's not the same as don't blog real.  I do try to accurately capture our real life.  However, I don't want to have a blog full of my angry rants or sad moments.  This, like everyone else who participates in social media, is my highlight reel.  And I want it to be happy dang it!  So sometimes I do let unhappy posts, sentences, or rants through but I generally leave them up for about 24 hours to get it out of my system then either take them down or edit them.

Tick Toc.  Tick Toc.

So let's talk about what's haunting me.  Back in December, high on "I just finished my first half marathon" I was in search of a new challenge and a new goal.  Running is hard on my knees and mostly it's hard on my sciatic nerve.  And I realized after training and completing 2 half marathons that a full marathon is not something I'm interested in doing.  I'm more interested in walking when I'm 80 and so I need to be kind to my knees now.  Yet I did want to try to push myself a little further.  So I looked up triathlons.  I figured with swimming and biking both being low to no impact on my knees it would be a good match for me.  I found the Memphis in May triathlon weekend had 2 options a Sprint tri (1/4 mile swim, 12 mile bike, 3.1 mile run) and a full Olympic Distance tri (1 mile swim, 25 mile bike, 6.2 mile run).  Now, remember, I'm signing up for this just after getting a taste of my first race bling ever.  And I was a little bling addicted (still am).  Well the sprint tri, which is great for beginners who want to get an idea of what a triathlon is like, only gives you a t-shirt.  Whereas, the olympic distance boasted of a finishers medal.  So despite many people's advice and even my mom practically pleading with me to do the Sprint distance I signed up for Olympic distance triathlon as my first tri ever.  I figured I had 5 months to learn how to swim, borrow a bike, and I just needed to maintain my running.  No problem!  HA!  Of course I still had the Disney Princess Half in February so all I did before that was just swim a mile in the pool at the Y to make sure I wouldn't drown.  I did it; it took me about 45 minutes and I swam most of it on my back and side.

Tick Toc.  Tick Toc.

Then I didn't do any real tri training until March.  In March I printed out a 10 week training calendar that I found here and I merged the swimming portion with a plan I found that was compared to C25K but for swimming.  I must say I am amazed at that swimming program.  In 5 weeks I went from barely being able to swim 100 yards freestyle to swimming a whole mile freestyle with no breaks.  I feel really good about that!  I also got my swim time down to 36:20.  So I cut about 10 minutes off my swim time from beginning to now.  I think my favorite part about this training has been the swimming.  You know people often talk about how the run to clear their mind and I never have that.  I listen to music when I run and if I don't then unfortunately my negative inner self monologue usually dominates the conversation while I'm running.  But while I swim I really learned how to clear my mind.  I enjoyed the swim because all I could do was concentrate on the number I was on so I didn't lose count and loved listening to my breath bubbles as the passed my ear.  If anything I'll take away a new love for swimming from this.

Tick Toc.  Tick Toc.

And running wasn't a big deal for this one.  In fact, I might have under trained a little on the running for it.  Thankfully like I said I came into this training after have just done a half marathon.  So from 13.1 miles down to 6.2 it was nice to only have my long runs be 6 miles for this training.  I did throw one random 10 mile run in when a friend came to town.  I was really happy with that run.  It was slower for me then when I trained with the speedy girls for the St. Jude who had me running at a 10:00 to 10:30 min/mile pace.  When I did 10 miles with Bekah we ran at an 11 min/mile pace but it was great.  That's a really nice, comfortable pace for me for long distance runs.  And I was so excited and happy to finally have someone to run with me that I smiled the whole time and was even able to carry on a conversation.  Something I couldn't do when I ran with my speedy friends.  I usually just wheezed along and added the appropriate "uh huh" whenever I could huff it out.  

Tick Toc.  Tick Toc.

So that leaves us with the bicycling.  I really underestimated how difficult the bike would be.  In my mind, the swim would be the hardest.  I'd have to teach myself how to swim and then not drown.  Then running would be difficult because it's the last event and my legs would be tired and I'm a slow runner anyway.  But I just kept thinking the biking part would be easy and I'd use it as a bit of a recovery before the run.  HA!  It took me 5 weeks to even get my hands on a bike.  Before then I did all my training on the stationary bike and felt like I was doing pretty good.  Inside on the stationary bike I did 25 miles in about 1hr 45min.  Then when I couldn't find a real road bike, my awesome father-in-law offered me his hybrid bike.  It was the only bike I could get my hands on so I gladly took it.  And my first ride on that bike just deflated me.  It absolutely defeated me.  It was so hard to ride a real bike and I was so slow.  We switched the tires from the solid ones Dennis likes to use to regular ones and that made it a little better but still, every time I went for a long ride I came back feeling even worse about myself.  And even more dumb for signing up for this triathlon.  My best so far was 2 hr 17 min for a 25 miles ride.  I blew off a couple long rides just to save my sanity and to make my home a happier place.  Then last weekend I needed to do a long ride.  The calendar said to ride 30 miles and it was my last chance at a good long ride before the triathlon this Sunday.  I set out to ride from my house on back country roads to Arlington then down some main roads until I could get back on back roads into Lakeland to my in-laws house.  My husband set off to town with the kids and dropped my shower bag at his parents house.  Anyway, I'm peddling along and 17 miles into the ride my back tire goes flat.  I have no way of fixing it.  So I had to call Chris to come and rescue me.  Thankfully, it happened in the best place possible.  I had just made it into Arlington and was able to give him a place to pick me up.  If it had happened even 2 or 3 miles sooner I wouldn't have even been able to tell him what street I was on.  Monday we went to Bikes Plus and got the gear I would need to change my tire if this happens in a race.  I'm not confident I'll be able to do it, but I'm hoping having an extra tube and CO2 on me will help ward off and flat tire juju.  

Tick Toc.  Tick Toc.

Well, now we are under 36 hours from when I'll hit the water on Sunday.  I went to a transitions clinic yesterday and feel a little more confident.  I still despise the bike, but I'm hoping we can make peace and have a good ride Sunday.  I'm terrified that I undertrained the run because I never practiced any post ride runs.  I didn't have the gym time (only 2 hours for the nursery at the gym).  But I'm going to go out Sunday and give it my best.  I've been pretty miserable recently because riding the bike has really make me feel like a failure.  But I'm hoping this triathlon will be a great experience for me.  It's a cool adventure.  When I discuss it with other people and they find out that I'm not strong in any of the events but still pushed myself to do this they sometimes seem impressed, mostly they look at me with a little pity but still not everyone says, "hey, I suck at all three of these things so I'm going to do a full olympic distance triathlon."  Only someone who is Schwartztastic does something like that.   

Let's hope Chris gets some good pictures Sunday so I have something to post.  Until then...

Tick Toc.  Tick Toc.

The Schwartz's vs Mother's Day 2013

(Picture not actually taken on Mother's Day)

I love Mother's Day.  I think it's because as a stay at home mom there is no boss's day, or secretary's day, or teacher's appreciation week.  I get Mother's Day.  It's the one day where Chris and the kids are supposed to go overboard showering me with love and affection for the grunt work I do on a daily basis because I'm a mom, and that's my job.  Our first 2 mother's days were pretty rough.  We were dealing with the flood in 2010 and the terrible bang job in 2011.  But since then Chris has really gotten the hang of Mother's Day.  And this weekend he stepped it up and made it a whole weekend affair.  Thursday, he picked up take out from our favorite place after the kids went to bed so we could eat in peace and have a real conversation.  Friday, he arranged for some friends to come over, grilled steaks and we played cards.  Saturday, he took the kids shopping for my present from them, asked his parents to watch the kids and took me to dinner and a movie.  And then Sunday he had the kids wake me up as they brought me their cards and gifts for me.  When he asked Sarah what she wanted to get me she said, "um, kinda like some good smelling soap".  So she picked out some strawberry soap and lotion for me.  Sarah also told me on Saturday after Chris picked me up from my disastrous bike ride that she could smell me and I smelled like sweat.  Thanks dear.  So I guess that's why she thought I needed soap for mother's day.  Cody got me the giant bag of peanut M&Ms from Costco and another big box of the gum I like.  They spoil me!

I'd really like to brag on Chris for a moment so get your puke buckets ready.  Chris's gift to me this year was so sweet and thoughtful and really selfless.  I still wouldn't say that I'm a runner.  I'm slow.  I wheeze like a fat kid.  And I still don't get the whole zen of running.  I chug along every step hating most of them and pushing myself anyway.  And as much as I hate running, Chris hates it even more.  He has started and not finished C25K at least twice.  But I do love going to races.  I love the atmosphere.  I think they're fun.  And after doing the Fairway 5K side by side with Chris that was the most fun I've had at a race.  It was so great to do that alongside him instead of just at the same event as him.  So for Mother's Day this year, Chris registered us for the 4 race M-town series.  And he's going to arrange the babysitting for each of those for us.  I know Chris hates running, but he knows that this is something I really enjoy doing and so he's going to do them with me.  And we're going to run side by side, then enjoy the post race parties for a little bit instead of rushing off as soon as we're done.  I really appreciate Chris seeing how much I enjoy doing these events and even though it's not his favorite thing in the world he still is willing and wants to do them with me.  I can't wait for these date nights!  We'll jog while we talk and laugh and then have some yummy food, listen to the band for a bit, and head home.  It's going to be so great!  I'm really just so thankful to have such a wonderful husband who instead of rolling his eyes at his crazy wife joins in my crazy sometimes.  

Man I love these kids.  They are the greatest gift I've ever been given!  Sometimes after they are in bed I miss them and I just want to go pick them up out of their beds and cuddle them some more.  

Now, for those of you LDS people playing along at home, Sarah is 3 so she's officially a Sunbeam which means, this is the first year I've had a kid singing in sacrament for Mother's Day.  They sent home the song about a month ago and Sarah and I have diligently practiced it over and over so she'd know the words.  Her performance did not disappoint.  They sang, "I Often Go Walking" and since the song mentions gathering "blossoms of blue" they gave each of the kids a sprig of blue silk flowers to hold while the sang.  Sarah was one of the first kids up there since she hopped up and proudly marched down the aisle so she was one of the first to get her flowers.  She proceeds to hang over the front of the thing going, "Mom!  Mom!  Look I got flowers!" as she wildly waved them back and forth.  Awesome!  Tons of people are turning around and smiling and laughing at me.  Sarah sang loud and proud the whole first verse.  She even added in the hand motions she made up pointing at me when the song says, "all flowers remind me of you".  Yep, she was the only kid pointing at her mom for that.  However, the whole second verse she pretty much just swayed back and forth and looked around at the other kids.  It was adorable!  I freaking loved it!  The kids singing in sacrament is always my favorite part of Mother's and Father's day, even before I had kids.  It's the main thing I've been looking forward to since my first was born.  I can't wait for Cody's first mother's day performance.  As of right now, he's not really the showman.  I have a feeling he'll be the kid up there shooting daggers out of his eyes annoyed that he's standing up there holding flowers.  But who knows, perhaps he'll surprise me.

The Schwartz's vs Strawberry Picking

We have been meaning to take the kids to Jones' Orchard and pick something for at least a year.  And then never remember to go when things are in season.  A friend posted a picture on Facebook saying that the strawberries were in season and I was determined not to miss it.  However, with as much rain as we've been having the weekends have been either too rainy or muddy to go as a family and with more rain in the forecast for this weekend I decided to ditch Daddy, sorry Chris!, and head out with the MOPS group to go pick strawberries.

I knew Sarah would love it!  She would eat nothing but strawberries each meal if she had the chance.  She always wants to eat strawberry jam sandwiches and have cut up strawberries, and strawberry yogurt to go with it.  I wasn't sure how Cody would like the trip to the patch but he was loving it!  It was like an Easter egg hunt in a way for him.  He knew he had to look and find RED strawberries.  He caught on to that idea much faster than Sarah who I had to keep reminding not to pick the green ones.  He would get excited when he would find a big red strawberry.  He'd pluck it off and proudly show me before dropping it into his bucket.  I honestly think I had more fun just watching him!

 Cody finding the bright red strawberries to pick.

 Sarah and a friend from the play group looking for berries.

Cody trying to show me what's in his bucket.

Looking for more red berries.

Near the end Cody put his finger through an over ripe one as he was trying to pull it off the vine.  He then realized he could eat these things and I spent the rest of the time trying to get him to stop pulling them off the vines and eating them right away.  And to keep him from pulling some out of other kid's buckets and eating them.  He was one hot sticky mess.  Sarah picked so many she insisted that her bucket was too heavy and needed me to carry it back for her.  She's excited about all the things we're going to make with the berries.  Well, she's mostly excited about the strawberry cake and strawberry pancakes we're going to make with them.

They are getting so big and love each other so much!  

We had a good time picking strawberries.  The next fruit to be in season is peaches and we promised Chris that we'd make time to go as a family to pick peaches.  So I guess I need to start searching pinterest for peach recipes.  

The Schwartz's vs Some Spontaneous Fun

I love routines that's no secret.  But recently we've been drowning in routines.  Monday-Saturday I'm striving to not miss a workout training for my new athletic goal.  Chris's semester schedule has him only seeing the kids 1 night M-Thursday, and then the weekends.  Except that every weekend is overbooked.  Chris is working in the attic 2 Saturdays a month so he doesn't see the kids those days because I take them to get out of the way.  The other 2 Saturdays fill up quickly with errands, and social engagements.  It really just seems like we haven't had a relaxing weekend since Christmas break.  And honestly, I can't tell you the last time Chris and I had a one on one date!  Eek!  

Tuesday, Chris called, his car window was broke; he seemed stressed and miffed and was heading to GM to get it fixed.  To clarify, his car wasn't broken into, the electronic mechanism that moves the window up was broken so his window was stuck down.  This is a huge problem because he didn't feel safe or comfortable leaving his car like that at the UofM.  AND we had bad storms predicted to roll in that afternoon so he needed to get the window fixed ASAP.  He asked if I would pick him up so we could go eat.  But I really saw it as a sign to let go of the routine, slow down, and have some fun as a family.  Saturdays fill up so quickly that we really haven't gotten to have fun together in a while.  So I packed daddy a change of clothes, quickly got myself and the kids ready and told Sarah that daddy had a surprise for her.  

We headed to Pump it Up for Pop in Preschool Playtime!  We took Sarah once about a month before Cody was born, but we haven't been since.  So this was Cody's first time.  

Cody eyeing the big slide, he was a little apprehensive.

Cody HATED the slide until Chris figured out the trick.  Cody doesn't want to ride on your lap, he wants to ride in between your legs with you squeezing him with them, and hold on to both your hands. After we figured that out he had a blast!  The last time I took him down the slide he was so cute.  He back him self into me, reached for my hands, and then started scooting so we'd go down the slide.  Big Smiles the whole way!

Cell phone picture

Sarah was a pro!  She can climb up all the slides all by herself now.  She can even do the entire inflatable obstacle course by herself now.  I followed her through the first time in case she got stuck and was so impressed that she could do each thing by herself.  And also relieved, I'm getting too old to try to climb up tiny slippery inflatable rock type foot holds.

Since Cody (at first) hated the slides he made a home in the bouncy ball court in the first room.  He took some warming up to it but after a while he was giggling as he tried to jump and walk around in there.  He'd laugh when he fell over.  And he loved having us help him dunk the balls in the goal.  Sorry, all the attempts to picture that came out blurry.

Hanging out in the ball court.

The second room had a wider slide, obstacle course, and then a bouncy house with a "rock wall", 2 slides, some letters, and inflatable pylons.  The next pictures are from playing in that bouncy house.  

Sarah killing it on the rock wall.

Cody beating on the letter I.

Look at her go!

His favorite things in this house were to sit in the letter U, and beat on the pylons. 

My favorite picture of the day!  I talked Chris into running and jumping into the pylons so I could take a picture of him.  I'm so glad it turned out. 

Sarah playing peek-a-boo in the pylons.

So sweet, playing at Pump it Up is hot and hard work.  Sometimes you need a little water, and a little help.

As we were leaving PIU, it was close to lunch time so Sarah told Chris, "daddy, I'm hungry I think we need to go to Chick-fil-a, or Costco."  Ha!  She couldn't see either of those from where we were, so she has memorized the area to know that's what's available.  The girl loves her Costco pizza so we went there to sample some snacks, pick up a few things, and have some pizza.  She also loves Costco because they give kids free ice cream at the snack bar.  As soon as she finished her pizza she was begging for the ice cream but we had other plans for later so we talked her out of it.

Next door to Costco is Dick's Sporting Goods so we wandered around there for a little bit.  However, Dick's is like Chris's Target.  You can't go in and just look without buying SOMETHING.  So we left there with 2 new kid sized soccer balls and a portable pop up soccer goal.  Ha!  

We also played a little putt putt in the golf section.

After visiting with a friend who works out there for a bit it was finally time for mommy's treat.  Gigi's cupcakes.  YUM!

Then we headed to Grandma Schwartz's to finish waiting on Chris's car to be ready for pick up.  It was a long fun day and Cody was spent.  He passed out in the car on the ride home, and was starving for dinner.  So daddy grilled while they played with their new soccer stuff and then we had a picnic dinner.

The deck and all it's accessories including giant grill and kids picnic table was the best home improvement project we've done so far.  

 We really needed this day together with nothing to do but have fun.  Days like this remind me that everything we are doing right now is worth it, and it's only for a short time.  In 2 years when Chris is done with school we can have random fun days whenever we want and I can't wait!

The Schwartz's vs Ballet Memphis Wizard of Oz

About a month ago I saw in an email from The Orpheum that Ballet Memphis was putting on The Wizard of Oz.  I looked into tickets, saw they had floor seats for only $5!  I figured they must be restricted or limited view but for $5 it was worth it.  And while I was worried about Sarah not making it through, again, for $5 if we had to leave at intermission no big deal.  I mentioned it to some other moms at dance but none of them seemed interested; they even thought the show might be "too scary".  Their loss.  I also mentioned it to Bekah whose family loves the Wizard of Oz so she grabbed some tickets and brought her tribe of 7 over to stay the night with us.  I was a little worried about how we were going to accommodate 7 guests but it turned out fine.  Her 4 older kids snuggled into the day bed together.  Her littlest one slept in Cody's crib while Cody slept in the pack in play in Sarah's room.  And poor Bekah and Dustin slept on the floor in the room with their kids, though I did suggest our couch which is quite comfortable.  I think all the kids had a great time playing together.  Sarah fell in love with Miss M.  She followed her around the house and insisted on holding her hand while we walked down main street to the show.  Pre-kid #5, Dustin's grandma made all the kids Wizard of Oz costumes.  So M and D reprised their Halloween rolls, and Bekah offered to bring the scarecrow costume for Sarah but I figured my little princess who must apparently always wear a dress wouldn't go for it.  She was however very excited to wear and blue dress and red shoes like M.

 M, Sarah, and D on Main Street heading to the show.

I do love our Mommy Daughter dates.  

So, I'm a bit of an Earl.  Do you remember that show, My Name is Earl and how Earl never took a picture with his eyes open.  So whenever one of us ends up with our eyes closed in a picture we always say, hey Earl!  This picture would be cute, if I wasn't pulling an Earl.

Since the tickets were only $5, I bought my sister and mother in law some without asking first.  Thankfully they were both good sports and agreed to come.

You just can't go to the Wizard of Oz without your Auntie Em.

Auntie Em who spoils your little girl by getting her a new Good Witch crown and tiara and also embarrasses me by narrating the ballet for Sarah with her outside voice.  

And Grandma Schwartz (sorry for the cell phone picture).  I'm not quite sure if Grandma liked it, but she endured it with a smile.

As for the show I really enjoyed it.  I didn't enjoy it as much as a musical with words and singing and stuff.  But it was interesting.  I'm sure I've been to the Nutcracker before, but I don't remember any of it so for all intents and purposes this was my first ballet.  I thought the dancers did a great job really capturing the movement of their characters.  It was cool to see how fluid the scarecrow moved, and funny to watch them oil the Tin Man and have his parts start working.  I think my favorite was Cowardly Lion.  He was in a word, well, Fabulous.  But seriously, he did a great job.  Sarah also did a great job.  She enjoyed the show and really stayed with it until near the very end.  

After the show the principal characters were in the lobby for quick photo shots.  They had a bit of a nazi line person who was moving you through so fast you barely had time to say, "I enjoyed the show" before she was rushing you along.  So this picture is a miracle because we literally had 1 shot.

Since Sarah did so good I think we might try going to the Nutcracker this Christmas.  Perhaps, that can be a daddy daughter date for Chris and Sarah.