The Great Potato Harvest

Farmer Ted planted potatoes in his raised bed in the backyard a couple of months ago. After much consideration, he pronounced them ready to harvest! Ted says we can't use shovels because we could hurt the potatoes. I get the logic, but I don't really want to dig with my bare hands. Unfortunately, Harry is only interested in moving handfuls of dirt out of the raised bed and Emma wandered off to find her hula hoop. Great. Pregnant girl has to take one for the team and start digging.

I squat down and start rooting around, so to speak. Ted is pulling up potatoes (which Harry is puting in baskets along with dirt). I keep digging, but don't find anything. I can't see what I am touching, but determined to be a good sport, I keep digging. Success! I touch something that feels vaguely potato-ish... then my finger pushes through whatever it is and it frigging explodes. Some sort of warm goo is all over my hand, which is still trapped in the dirt. As I pull up my hand, the smell of rot is overwhelming. So now I'm covered in sticky, stinky goo and screaming while everyone else is laughing hysterically. I run in the house and scrub my hand over and over, but could still smell the funk.

So what was the stinky, sticky goo? Well, contrary to the images that popped into my head courtesy of Stephen King and Dean Koontz, we're thinking it was a very, very rotten potato. So much for me playing farmer! Ted told me I was a bad homesteader. No argument here!

Here's a slightly staged photo showing children who look cooperative...



I did manage to get over my alien pod explosion images enough to eat the mashed potatoes Ted made. Pretty tasty! There's now a basket full of dirty potatoes sitting on my dining room table...

I did use the shovel and pitchfork to look for any left over potatoes after the initial extraction. I had no idea you used your core to shovel- that was a little awkward since my core has gone into hiding. Still, that was exercise, right?!

That blue thing in the background of the picture? Why, it's our lovely pool! Here's some pictures of Emma and Harry in it when it's full. I think these capture their personalities fairly well.




Unfortunately, we didn't empty out the water for like... a week. Yeah, pretty slimy. Let's have a moment of silence for the pool. RIP, slimy blue pool.

Well, I think I ran twice in June...

The first run in June:

Emma was at a friend's house swimming and Harry was at home with Ted napping. It's just far enough to my friend's house that I didn't want to send Emma on her bike alone, so I put on my new maternity running skirt and "ran" over with her. I took the long way, so we made it about a half-mile. I decided rather than stick around, I'd try to keep going (I know, nice friend to dump your kid off and literally run...)

I ran about 3 more miles with a couple of walking breaks. It was in the 90s, which I found irritating. Luckily I was in my neighborhood, and while I still don't know street names all that well, I do know the shadiest, flattest, least doggy populated streets. I poured cold water all over my marathon hat- it's not the best look, but it works. I actually felt pretty good, and when I made it back to my friend's house, everyone thought I was a total bad-ass. Sweet! We all know the real motivation for that run, right?! The maternity running skirt was brand new...

The second run in June:

I took Harry out on a Saturday morning after our customary Walmart trip. It was about 9:30 a.m. when we started. (You have to get Harry to Walmart early because he likes to "march" through the store. Marching is easier without a crowd).

I discovered where my sciatic nerve is the night before. Hello! It didn't hurt that morning, so I thought maybe exercising would help. (Yes, why rest a potential injury when you can make it worse by running?) I ran about a block before I realized my sciatic nerve was still having issues. I thought I could just slow down and work through it, but then I got a weird pain in my side. I couldn't decide if it was a regular side pain or not, because as you may realize, my side is a lot bigger now. And I was getting hot. And Harry took possession of our one water bottle... I decided running wasn't working, so I walked the rest of the way. I made the mistake of pointing out a bunny to Harry (we have lots of wild rabbits in our neighborhood now). He missed it, and then insisted for a good two miles that the "bunny hide" and he "want to see bunny!" Alas, no other bunny sightings.

I'm used to our Goofy training when Harry was still too little to do much talking. He's not going to be making any speeches anytime soon, but it's still entertaining to have him try to carry on a conversation in his stroller. (Although the bunny talk/"more cracker" demands did get a little old...)



Oh, and now my only size appropriate running shirt is getting a wee bit snug around the gut.

Future plans:

Hmmm... there is a 5k in St. Simons on the Fourth of July. I did it last year- it was my first 5k where I broke 30 minutes (29:59 to be exact). I'd kind of like to do it, but I'm not so sure.

The pros: it's a short walk from our place, there are walkers so I probably won't be DLF, it's flatter than you can imagine, I probably weigh about the same now as when I did it last year (really!), and it's another chance to wear my super cool maternity running skirt.

The cons: it's going to be hot, I haven't attempted to run in awhile, they don't allow strollers so I'd have to carry my water bottle instead of having a convenient tray, I'm going to be even bigger than I am now, and my only enormous wicking shirt may not be able to hold me in.

The biggest pro of all? Well, my very first 5k I was DLF. For the last mile or so I was running next to a woman who knew the cop bringing up the back in his squad car. He was literally yelling at us through his loudspeaker! He was teasing/encouraging, but I've never been yelled at through a cop's loudspeaker (or had the sirens flick on right behind me- he did that too)... it was really bizarre. I'm thinking I show up this time with my big ol' belly, and I might get an ambulance escort! Or maybe even a fire truck! That might be worth it (although Harry would be devastated if I get a fire truck escort and he's not with me...)

I haven't completely lost my mind though. There is a 5k in a little town about 20 miles away this weekend starting at 8:00 a.m. Call me not tempted! I'm very proud of that bit of self-control...

Introducing my Medal Rod

A little over a year ago, Wendy from WISH posted a picture of her medal display in response to the "so what do you do with all these medals?" question. It was a curtain rod covered in medals. I almost died of envy when I saw it. Seriously, it was beautiful. I wanted one so badly, but with one medal I thought my rod might look a little... needy.

Well, look what I have now!



Before you make fun of the spackle, I have to add that my helpers were 2 and 8. Harry kept demanding to "help, momma!" I put him in charge of the stud finder. He was very pleased with himself. Emma was less enthusiastic, but did at least eyeball the rod to see if it was reasonably level (and then she mocked me for putting them in chronological order). Can I talk about my hatred of plaster walls? Thus the spackle...

You might be able to see a common theme with the medals. Yep, with the exception of the one Jacksonville half medal with the tacky ribbon, they're all Disney. (OK, I've added another one I found from the Bridge Run, but still). Oh, and only the first three are pre-GoofyBaby.

I haven't done much running lately. The combination of heat and just feeling yuck is a problem. I felt truly awful yesterday afternoon at work. I think my blood pressure dropped some- I don't have a scientific basis for that idea, but I felt really light-headed and queasy and had some Braxton Hicks action. (It's also possible I was hungry). The feeling eventually passed. I had Ted take my blood pressure about an hour later- it was 100/60 with a pulse of 57. That's not that low for me, but I'm wondering if it was lower when I felt so bad. Anyway, running was out of the question.

On the bright side, I haven't really gained much weight. I'm eating plenty, so I assume GoofyBaby is doing just fine. The way I see it, every pound I don't gain is a pound I don't have to worry about later! Of course, I know it's entirely possible to gain eight pounds next month- I think I gained eight pounds with Emma every month.

I've been looking into training post-delivery. I'm sure I'll leave GoofyBaby at home some, but I'd like to be able to drag him along on some of the short runs. Most double jogging strollers require the baby to be at least 6 months old. That so puts me outside my training window for the January half. There's one I found that you can buy an attachment for in order to hook a carseat on! Picture me with Harry in one seat and GoofyBaby in a carseat on the other side (and Emma on her bike)! And yes, I realize that's the height of madness. It's all that's keeping me happy right now, so I'm just going to keep my little delusion that I'll be perky and ready to run and that both boys will be cooperative...

Return of runner girl... sort of

So yesterday was a stressful day to put it mildly.

I took Emma to her eternal dance rehearsal (THREE PLUS HOURS). When I went back home, I looked at Harry and thought, "oh why not?" Coach Harry went in the stroller. He's so funny- I told him we were going running, and he gathered up my iPod and Garmin and brought them to me.

I really felt kind of yuck, but decided I didn't care what speed I ran- I knew just trying to get out and move would help. I ran almost 2.5 miles. My goal was 3 miles, but I didn't worry about it because I had to cut it short to get a quick shower and grab Emma.

It turns out my average pace was around 13 min/mile. In the old days I would have been finished with my 3 miles easily before I finished yesterday's run. But that's okay.

Harry and I had fun. Harry stole my water bottle (which is really his SpongeBob bottle) and perfected his spit-take. It was very impressive. I chatted with Harry, gave him his supplies (baggy of goodies and Paci depending on his mood), conducted music with one hand, and text-messaged a friend, all while looking for cars and avoiding melt-down inducing views of the park. My multi-tasking may have contributed to my time...

It was nice to see I can still run, even if it's almost a walking pace. It was also 82 degrees and 61% humidity, even at 7:00 p.m. when we finished- can you say hot!?

But that's all my news. The actual dance performance is this weekend. I don't even want to think of the implications of a three hour rehearsal...

Slacker

All right, just so no one has the wrong impression and thinks I'm Serious Runner Girl, I have to say after my reasonably triumphant 5k finish at the Race for the Pinks, I haven't done much. Actually, I haven't done anything. And it's been a week... or two...

I have my reasons:

First, I caught a cold. So that entailed much self-pity and sniffing and general wallowing.

I'm better now, but there is a bigger problem lurking. I'm the type who needs a race in the future to motivate (scare) me into training. I've discovered that's how I always am, regardless of GoofyBaby. There's a 5k in July, but I doubt I'll want to run at that point. I might walk/waddle it, but I might not. I am considering breaking out some cowbells and lining up along the course to cheer, but it may seem really early in the morning. The half is in January, post-GoofyBaby, and that's just way too far away to think about. GoofyBaby needs a real name before I even start worrying about the half!

Never say never... I'm not saying I've stopped running completely until GoofyBaby's arrival. I sort of thought about it last night, but we were under a severe thunderstorm warning until 10 p.m. and the pine trees are really, really tall on my route. But at least I did seriously consider going.

Having said that, I've accepted that if I don't run again until after GoofyBaby appears, I still managed to keep it up for a pretty long time.

In the meantime, I think it's time to make my curtain rod medal display. If I'm really good, I might even consider working on my running scrapbook. Right... I'm just going to focus on the curtain rod thing.

So here's something entertaining:

Minnie Marathon 15k, 2007, first long distance run, time approx. 1:54



Minnie Marathon 15k, 2008, 20 weeks pregnant, time approx. 1:48



The first picture explains why I'm so anxious to not completely fall apart... oh, and obviously, I got a better hat after seeing exactly why layers and visors don't mix well.

Race for the Pinks 5k

So, I said I was going to slow down, but when I came home from the Minnie weekend, I was feeling good and decided that was an arbitrary decision...

The Race for the Pinks was the weekend after Minnie. The race was organized by a service league in town. I'm embarassed to admit I dropped out of the league this year. Nice people, but too much drama.

So, I had mixed emotions on this race. On the one hand, there was a possibility there would be a good turnout so I wouldn't be dead last and it was for a good cause; on the other hand, it felt slightly tacky to go to the race after dropping out of the group. Ultimately, I decided it didn't matter.

My plan was to wake up Saturday and decide if I wanted to go or not. I woke up, decided I had nothing better to do, and then for the first time ever, loaded up the stroller and took Harry to the race. It's always bothered me that Harry experiences the boring training runs, but never the races, and they didn't list any stroller restrictions.

Harry and I registered with about ten minutes to spare. Being no fool, I took off his shoes and socks. He protested, so I explained that I didn't want him to throw them off while I was running. He looked shocked, and demanded "I wanna run!" I had to move quickly to distract him! We lined up in the very back and waited for the start.

I forgot to mention there were pink balloons everywhere and blaring music. Why is it always blaring 80s music at races?!

We took off through downtown. Harry crossed his arms behind his head and just kicked back. Cops were there blocking the roads, so there was tons of room for us even with the stroller. I fell back to about an 11 minute pace. As usual, by about the two mile mark, I finally warmed up enough that I wasn't miserable. I gave Harry a cup of water from one of the stops (I had my own- beauty of taking a stroller!). He poured it all over himself.

The last mile, I began passing some people. I felt a little guilty- who wants to be passed by a stroller?! At least I didn't look too obviously pregnant, I think. I had on my WISH shirt, so I could inspire as I was passing...

It was a perfectly marked race until the last couple of blocks. There was a turn that was missing a sign. That's the beauty of not being in the lead. I saw people headed back in my direction and knew something was up. (Some of the really fast runners were mad about it, which I understand since it threw off their times, but it was a shame it had to happen in an otherwise great race).

Finally reached the finish. Our time was 32:xx. Considering I was responsible for 3 people if you include Harry and GoofyBaby, not a bad time. We went to grab some water and a banana. They had turned on the sprinklers in the park by the finish. Good idea in theory, but when you went to get your water, your shoes and shorts got soaked (not to mention poor Harry in the stroller!) Harry of course took the banana.

We stood around the finish clapping for people. Okay, I was clapping and Harry was eating his banana. In my experience, no one cheers unless you are at Disney. What is up with that?!

Oh, and Harry really wanted to run the 1 mile fun run. Can a 2 year old run or walk 1 mile?! I can't imagine he could last that long, and I'd hate to have to carry him. I think I may try taking him on a few walks to see just how far he can go. I'm guessing my boy's more of a sprinter, but how long remains to be seen...

Sunday, Minnie 15k

This Minnie, oddly enough, is not on the race course, but it is one of my favorite sights from the Flower and Garden Festival.

Now, on to the race:

I was insanely tired Saturday night, but what's new at Disney? Becky and I made plans to have me pick her up at her hotel at 4:30 a.m. Her hotel was maybe 10 minutes away and it would probably take close to 10 minutes to get from my room to my car. So I decided to get up at 4:00 a.m. Yeah, that was kind of cutting it close.

I jumped out of bed, turned off the cell alarm that I didn't need, and did the whole shower routine. This time since I decided to get up as late as possible, I ate my bagel in the shower. Oh yeah, that's a time saver! I managed to get dressed and out the door.

I scurried down to the car, didn't glare at the insanely chipper woman in the lobby with a race bib, and went to pick up Becky. Of course my contact started doing weird things to my eye when I reached the car. It was now about 4:25 a.m. and I was a little worried that my organized friend would be tapping her shoes waiting for me. But no! She must have been tired from the day before too- she called me saying she was running late. Whew! Oh, and I saw the mile markers along the road on the way to pick her up- yep, they were in the middle of nowhere. Now I was officially thinking this might have been too ambitious, but so was the Goofy, and I survived that. My power of positive thinking was being tested.

I found Becky easily and we made it to Epcot. We parked the car and hopped on a bus where we found more WISHers. We were at the Animal Kingdom in no time. A big group of WISHers had assembled. We chatted some and sat around- I was having a second breakfast of Goldfish and a Diet Dr. Pepper. Oddly enough, no one else wanted any Goldfish! It seemed like a good salt replacement strategy to me.

We got up and spent some time wandering around looking for some Bio-Freeze for Becky's knee. We decided they didn't think anyone would hurt at the start, so no Bio-Freeze! Generally speaking, it's not a good thing to start a race hurt. Hmmm...

Finally, we got in a porta-potty line. You have to time it just right: too early and you'll start to panic thinking you have to go again; too late and you're worried about the race start. I've now officially experienced the too late thing! I think we made it out of the line maybe 2 minutes before the start. We took off across the parking lot grumbling about how the race hadn't started and we were already running. There was no way to make it into the proper corral to start, so we just headed for the very back as the fireworks started.


The view from the very back.

We spent the first couple of miles weaving around walkers. Things were pretty congested. I vaguely remember miles 3, 4, and 5. They were a horrible flashback to the full. People say they like to run the Minnie to see what the last bit of the full was like because they were so out of it. Well, trust me, it comes back to you. Asphalt, asphalt, asphalt, overpass, repeat. Poor Becky was still looking for a medical tent, and I was fussing about how they only had 5 water stops for 9 miles (I had my own water bottle, but still...) There's a turn around along the way. As much as it sucks to know you have to go back on that same road, it is fun to wave to people as you go (although more fun to wave to those behind you than in front!)

It felt like a fast pace to me, but we were usually somewhere in the 11-12 minute range. I guess that's what adding 10+ pounds and a stowaway can do to you! It's a good thing I had Becky to kind of pull me along! I was surprised to find it so much of an effort. True, my training had been somewhat shaky, but I was hoping the Goofy would carry me through.

Somewhere around mile 5 we found the medical tent and Becky got her Bio-Freeze. It didn't help right away, but she'd been on a mission for it, so that was good. Bio-Freeze basically numbs the area where you apply it. Unfortunately, the "applied area" during a race is your hand, a trickle in the right spot, and your shoes/socks. Becky was laughing about her cold hand.

Finally, finally, we hit the backside of Hollywood Studios. We both laughed about wanting the candy bar table they had from the full! We ran through the really dark tunnel and I managed to take a picture of the costumes from High School Musical 2 for Emma- I was proud I remembered!

Another runner yelled "it's just another 5k, ladies!" which I know she meant as encouragement, but wasn't so helpful.



Then we hit the Hat and found a few characters- of course, we took pictures. Pictures are fun to have and they require stopping!



After the hat, we focused on attempting to look reasonably cute for the official photographers. "Keep smiling, keep smiling!"


We left Hollywood Studios, and ran to the Boardwalk. Stupid death march strikes again!



I'm always surprised that the little hill by the Swan/Dolphin is more daunting that you expect. We ran past the Beach Club. Becky took a phone call from her husband without stopping! I'm telling you, the girl was on a mission! She had looked for her family to be on the balcony when we ran by her hotel, but they weren't there. We'd joked that we were too fast for them- turns out we were right!

We hit the countries and met up with Tricia from WISH- hey girl! We ran together for awhile but again, Becky was on a mission, so we drifted apart. Last year I walked the countries and took pictures of almost every one because of the Flower and Garden Festival. This time I barely even looked up (mostly because when I did look up I'd think "are you kidding me? we're just by Japan- will this never end!?") I love the countries at Epcot, and it feels sacrilegious to say it, but I'm getting a little tired of that route...

The last Epcot stretch-- Woo hoo- Spaceship Earth, parking lot, sad to see no choir... WISHers cheering. Can't slow down when WISHers are cheering! And we blazed through the finish somewhere around 1:48, which was considerably faster than last year. We took pictures, joined WISHers for cheering, and generally just enjoyed not running. Becky laughed at me because I freaked out over having fine grit all over my body. It was salt! In all my running, I've never experienced that one. I didn't take any gels or anything with me. I drank a little bit of PowerAde at the water stops, but it was nothing like the PowerAde I drank at every stop for the half. Maybe that made the difference?

I have never been able to stick around for the end of the race. I loved seeing the last finishers. Sure, the runners at the front of the pack are impressive, but the last people- now that's some true determination and courage! It was really getting hot so they had to be suffering.

Final thoughts: it was a great race. Having Becky with me helped tremendously. She was going fast, but it wasn't a bad pace. I told my doctor I'd make sure I could still talk while running, and we did chat during the race. Her knee bothered her throughout the race- she was pretty tough! I enjoyed teasing her about the pace, but I know she would have slowed down the second I asked. It was really crazy fun!

I hate that they are getting rid of the Minnie- it's such a great distance. I've already signed up for the half in January, and I don't know if I'll be able to convince my family to head back in March for the new half. And, if I'm reading the information correctly, the course looks too similar to the Minnie. If you're going to do a half, you need to go through Magic Kingdom!

Very tricky, Disney... Minnie had left before we finished the race and never came back. Princesses, on the other hand, were everywhere.



Every time I finish a race, I always get hit with that "why do we do this to ourselves voluntarily?" feeling, but I get over it pretty quickly. I am going to probably focus on trying to increase my walking speed (I am the slowest walker ever) until this baby is born. I really wanted to kind of slow down on my own terms, and I think having a Minnie medal is a great way to do it!

So that pretty much wraps it up. I dropped Becky off, went back to the hotel, showered, packed, etc. And, in memory of last year's cinammon roll after the Minnie, I split a waffle with Harry, who insisted on wearing my medal.