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Tuesday, March 15, 2011
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Saturday, March 12, 2011
Ragnar 2011: Sweatin' to the 80s
On February 25-26 I ran the Ragnar Del Sol relay for the second year in a row. This year I was the team captain, so a lot more work went into it (but less training as I wasn't as new to running). To preface this account, my team is made up of 12 runners. Each is assigned a number. The Ragnar organizers assign 3 specific legs, or portions of the 197 mile race, to each runner number. Runners 1-6 travel in van 1; runners 7-12 travel in van 2. Here's a run down of the weekend.
Thursday night: decorate and load vans (thanks Wendy for making both of your vans available), eat lots of spaghetti, go to sleep later than planned.
Friday:
4:45am: Van 1 meets at my house. We leave a little late because one of the boys staying with me was expecting a wake up call and I didn't know that.
6:30 am: Check in at the start line in Wickenburg, AZ.
7:30am: Runner 1 starts as we cheer him on.
In our van each of our legs ranged from 4-9 miles. Once the runner got started, the rest of us would hop in the van cheering and ringing our cowbell each time we passed the runner. We would stop every 2-3 miles get out, cheer, and provide water if desired.
Our team name was Sweatin' to the 80s, and we all dressed up. This is one of our first "aid" stops of the race. During the first few legs of the race we also used our drive time to crimp our ponytails! :)
Here I am at one of our early stops. One of our team mates, Eric, did the vinyl for the van! Nice!
I was runner 4. My first leg was 6.5 miles. I think I had like a 10:15 pace which isn't terrible, but much slower than I was last fall when I was running regularly. Oh yeah, and when I wasn't about 3 months pregnant and running with a pretty bad cough.
Each runner in our van ran one leg before we handed off the "baton" (slap bracelet) to runner 7 who started van 2. While Van 2 ran, we drove to our next starting point, Surprise, AZ, and tried to get some rest. The inside sleep area wasn't open yet (the school it was at was still in session I think) so we got to sleep on the baseball fields. Between it being early afternoon, people being loud, and my pregnant self having to pee constantly, I didn't really get to sleep.
You can see some other teams were trying the same thing. This stop also had some booths with things like free Muscle Milk and free pb&j sandwiches (made by my awesome sister who volunteered even though she was on vacation). My step dad, Gary, also volunteered. THANK YOU! Each team has to provide 3 volunteers for a 6 hour shift in order to run the race and my family was so willing to help!
7:00ish pm: We started our second set of legs. It was really hard to find a place to pull over and give our first runner water, and at one of our attempted stops my cell phone fell out of the van without me realizing it. Again, my family totally came through. I remembered that Lisa and Dan had found her phone once through Sprint's family locator. I called Lisa and she signed me up for a trial of the service and located my phone. While I was running my awesome team hurried over to the bank parking lot where it fell out, retrieved it, and got back with the next runner maybe a minute before I reached the end of my leg (so she didn't get to warm up or anything, but she was super nice about it). This leg was 5.4 miles, uphill on gravel freeway shoulders, and at about 11:30pm. I like doing uphill at night because I can't see how steep or far the hills are. I also had a nice guy run the last mile or so with me, which made it go faster. Between staring at the gravel right in front of my feet with my little headlight, going uphill, and not worrying about pace because of the errand my van was on, I ended up with like a 12:30 ish pace. I've never recorded such a slow pace before...
The next major exchange where we passed the "baton" to Van 2 had great accommodations (meals and showers could be purchased and an indoor gym was available for sleeping), but we had to travel on to make sure we were at our next start point on time. We stopped at Denny's which ended up taking way too long and the pasta I got was disgusting! I ate most of it anyway because I was so desperate to have something besides the sandwiches, bagels, and snacks in my lunch box.
Our next start point had a dirt/rock lot outside for sleeping. I think we had about 3 hours before we had to start running again, so we quickly laid out our bags and went to sleep. Despite all the noise of the runners coming in and out, I actually was able to sleep pretty well. My friend Cindy, did not as she was paranoid about scorpions. Man am I glad she didn't mention that fear to me until it was time to get up!
We started running again Saturday at about 4:30 or 5:00 am. My third leg was only 4.2 miles and half of it was downhill. My coughing lungs weren't too happy with me for about the last mile, but I pulled off something like a 9:43 pace, if I remember correctly. We finished around 11am I think and then had time to kill until van 2 reached the finish line.
This is such an energetic race. Most teams, and my van for sure, are silly and crazy. We stopped every few miles for all of our runners to cheer and support. No one sleeps while we have runners out as we really make an effort to help each other along. We took an amazing number of pictures and videos, but they are all on my team mate's camera, so you'll be seeing even more documentation later.
For now, here are some finish line pictures that my sister was nice enough to take.
My family was so awesome in supporting me this year. My mom, Lisa and James, Mike, and Ethan all came to the finish line! Mom brought flowers and a balloon and bought me a Ragnar jacket and shirt at the finish line store!
We only had 3 guys this year:
My handsome hubby waiting at the finish line:
3:40ish pm: The whole team runs in with the last runner. Here we are running in (kids in tow).
You can pick me out holding Ethan (he wasn't keeping up on his own). My nephew James is running on the left in the white shirt.
Finish line pictures! They have a professional hired by Ragnar taking pictures, but those haven't been released yet, as far as I know, so I'm extra glad Lisa was there to take pictures!
Van 1! The guys drove down from Utah to run this race, I ran pregnant and coughing, another runner was recovering from the flu, one had a recent knee injury, and one still had a nursing baby at home, so, yeah, we're rock stars! :) Oh, and we ran 110 miles of the race.
And a few of the many portraits Lisa took of me.
This is the official Ragnar van. They have every team take a picture in front of it.
During my last leg of the race I was thinking, "why do I do this again?", but it is such a fun race and I hope to do it again many times in the future, hopefully in other locations as well!
Thursday night: decorate and load vans (thanks Wendy for making both of your vans available), eat lots of spaghetti, go to sleep later than planned.
Friday:
4:45am: Van 1 meets at my house. We leave a little late because one of the boys staying with me was expecting a wake up call and I didn't know that.
6:30 am: Check in at the start line in Wickenburg, AZ.
7:30am: Runner 1 starts as we cheer him on.
In our van each of our legs ranged from 4-9 miles. Once the runner got started, the rest of us would hop in the van cheering and ringing our cowbell each time we passed the runner. We would stop every 2-3 miles get out, cheer, and provide water if desired.
Our team name was Sweatin' to the 80s, and we all dressed up. This is one of our first "aid" stops of the race. During the first few legs of the race we also used our drive time to crimp our ponytails! :)
Here I am at one of our early stops. One of our team mates, Eric, did the vinyl for the van! Nice!
I was runner 4. My first leg was 6.5 miles. I think I had like a 10:15 pace which isn't terrible, but much slower than I was last fall when I was running regularly. Oh yeah, and when I wasn't about 3 months pregnant and running with a pretty bad cough.
Each runner in our van ran one leg before we handed off the "baton" (slap bracelet) to runner 7 who started van 2. While Van 2 ran, we drove to our next starting point, Surprise, AZ, and tried to get some rest. The inside sleep area wasn't open yet (the school it was at was still in session I think) so we got to sleep on the baseball fields. Between it being early afternoon, people being loud, and my pregnant self having to pee constantly, I didn't really get to sleep.
You can see some other teams were trying the same thing. This stop also had some booths with things like free Muscle Milk and free pb&j sandwiches (made by my awesome sister who volunteered even though she was on vacation). My step dad, Gary, also volunteered. THANK YOU! Each team has to provide 3 volunteers for a 6 hour shift in order to run the race and my family was so willing to help!
7:00ish pm: We started our second set of legs. It was really hard to find a place to pull over and give our first runner water, and at one of our attempted stops my cell phone fell out of the van without me realizing it. Again, my family totally came through. I remembered that Lisa and Dan had found her phone once through Sprint's family locator. I called Lisa and she signed me up for a trial of the service and located my phone. While I was running my awesome team hurried over to the bank parking lot where it fell out, retrieved it, and got back with the next runner maybe a minute before I reached the end of my leg (so she didn't get to warm up or anything, but she was super nice about it). This leg was 5.4 miles, uphill on gravel freeway shoulders, and at about 11:30pm. I like doing uphill at night because I can't see how steep or far the hills are. I also had a nice guy run the last mile or so with me, which made it go faster. Between staring at the gravel right in front of my feet with my little headlight, going uphill, and not worrying about pace because of the errand my van was on, I ended up with like a 12:30 ish pace. I've never recorded such a slow pace before...
The next major exchange where we passed the "baton" to Van 2 had great accommodations (meals and showers could be purchased and an indoor gym was available for sleeping), but we had to travel on to make sure we were at our next start point on time. We stopped at Denny's which ended up taking way too long and the pasta I got was disgusting! I ate most of it anyway because I was so desperate to have something besides the sandwiches, bagels, and snacks in my lunch box.
Our next start point had a dirt/rock lot outside for sleeping. I think we had about 3 hours before we had to start running again, so we quickly laid out our bags and went to sleep. Despite all the noise of the runners coming in and out, I actually was able to sleep pretty well. My friend Cindy, did not as she was paranoid about scorpions. Man am I glad she didn't mention that fear to me until it was time to get up!
We started running again Saturday at about 4:30 or 5:00 am. My third leg was only 4.2 miles and half of it was downhill. My coughing lungs weren't too happy with me for about the last mile, but I pulled off something like a 9:43 pace, if I remember correctly. We finished around 11am I think and then had time to kill until van 2 reached the finish line.
This is such an energetic race. Most teams, and my van for sure, are silly and crazy. We stopped every few miles for all of our runners to cheer and support. No one sleeps while we have runners out as we really make an effort to help each other along. We took an amazing number of pictures and videos, but they are all on my team mate's camera, so you'll be seeing even more documentation later.
For now, here are some finish line pictures that my sister was nice enough to take.
My family was so awesome in supporting me this year. My mom, Lisa and James, Mike, and Ethan all came to the finish line! Mom brought flowers and a balloon and bought me a Ragnar jacket and shirt at the finish line store!
We only had 3 guys this year:
My handsome hubby waiting at the finish line:
3:40ish pm: The whole team runs in with the last runner. Here we are running in (kids in tow).
You can pick me out holding Ethan (he wasn't keeping up on his own). My nephew James is running on the left in the white shirt.
Finish line pictures! They have a professional hired by Ragnar taking pictures, but those haven't been released yet, as far as I know, so I'm extra glad Lisa was there to take pictures!
Van 1! The guys drove down from Utah to run this race, I ran pregnant and coughing, another runner was recovering from the flu, one had a recent knee injury, and one still had a nursing baby at home, so, yeah, we're rock stars! :) Oh, and we ran 110 miles of the race.
And a few of the many portraits Lisa took of me.
This is the official Ragnar van. They have every team take a picture in front of it.
During my last leg of the race I was thinking, "why do I do this again?", but it is such a fun race and I hope to do it again many times in the future, hopefully in other locations as well!
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Primary Challenge
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Thursday, February 24, 2011
Here We Go Again
I have 3 "Here We Go Again" topics.
First, here we go again with playing catch up. I haven't posted much this year, but in January Mike took a trip to New Jersey for a few days and when he got back we celebrated his 31st birthday. He got a new fancy camera that I've been waiting to get the pictures from before posting, but maybe I should just teach him to start posting them himself...Here are the pictures from my phone.
Papa made Ethan this trains shelf!
Ethan is learning to count. He consistently counts 1-4 or 6-9. This is his proud face after counting these four (magnetic) darts.
Chilling in Nana's office while Mom works for a few minutes.
One day he decided to take a nap on the floor, random but cute.
Big haircut! The first time I've used scissors to try and keep it from getting too short.
Nana and Papa took us to a pizza place where they have an organist who can play like any song and lights etc. that flash to go along with the music. Ethan had fun, especially when the organ made train noises.
Just a cute sad face.
Ethan has discovered a secondary train table. He stands in the tub and drives the trains all around, mostly when I am getting ready or cleaning.
The first weekend in February was our community parade. Ethan actually liked it. Mike was there at the beginning and then had to go home to get a clean diaper, and since we walked, it took awhile.
He did this on his own.
These pictures were stolen from Lisa's blog. This is at the Children's Museum last week.
Lisa and her kids are visiting Nana and Papa. They were supposed to stay here this week, but Ethan's been sick. :(
At the museum again.
It rained in Phoenix!
Earlier in the year Ethan got a crazy goose egg, poor kid.
We've been to the zoo 4 times this year! Twice with local friends, once with our family, and once with Lisa and kids. Here is a picture of lunch time with friends.
Here we go again #2!
Most of you know this already, but I just remembered I haven't blogged it. Baby Abegg #2 will be joining us around 9/10/11. This ultrasound was at 6 wks 5 days. I was estimated to be 8 weeks 2 days before this measurement, so this has been a very long trimester (my due date was moved back 12 days). I found out I was pregnant on December 29th and will be 12 weeks this Saturday.
Here we go again #3. Tomorrow I am running the Ragnar Relay again! I was the team captain this year, so more work than last year, but I'm excited. We meet at 4:30am tomorrow (Friday) and by early Saturday evening 12 of us will have run about 200 miles, and hopefully will have slept at least a little!
First, here we go again with playing catch up. I haven't posted much this year, but in January Mike took a trip to New Jersey for a few days and when he got back we celebrated his 31st birthday. He got a new fancy camera that I've been waiting to get the pictures from before posting, but maybe I should just teach him to start posting them himself...Here are the pictures from my phone.
Papa made Ethan this trains shelf!
Ethan is learning to count. He consistently counts 1-4 or 6-9. This is his proud face after counting these four (magnetic) darts.
Chilling in Nana's office while Mom works for a few minutes.
One day he decided to take a nap on the floor, random but cute.
Big haircut! The first time I've used scissors to try and keep it from getting too short.
Nana and Papa took us to a pizza place where they have an organist who can play like any song and lights etc. that flash to go along with the music. Ethan had fun, especially when the organ made train noises.
Just a cute sad face.
Ethan has discovered a secondary train table. He stands in the tub and drives the trains all around, mostly when I am getting ready or cleaning.
The first weekend in February was our community parade. Ethan actually liked it. Mike was there at the beginning and then had to go home to get a clean diaper, and since we walked, it took awhile.
He did this on his own.
These pictures were stolen from Lisa's blog. This is at the Children's Museum last week.
Lisa and her kids are visiting Nana and Papa. They were supposed to stay here this week, but Ethan's been sick. :(
At the museum again.
It rained in Phoenix!
Earlier in the year Ethan got a crazy goose egg, poor kid.
We've been to the zoo 4 times this year! Twice with local friends, once with our family, and once with Lisa and kids. Here is a picture of lunch time with friends.
Here we go again #2!
Most of you know this already, but I just remembered I haven't blogged it. Baby Abegg #2 will be joining us around 9/10/11. This ultrasound was at 6 wks 5 days. I was estimated to be 8 weeks 2 days before this measurement, so this has been a very long trimester (my due date was moved back 12 days). I found out I was pregnant on December 29th and will be 12 weeks this Saturday.
Here we go again #3. Tomorrow I am running the Ragnar Relay again! I was the team captain this year, so more work than last year, but I'm excited. We meet at 4:30am tomorrow (Friday) and by early Saturday evening 12 of us will have run about 200 miles, and hopefully will have slept at least a little!
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Can you tell?
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Saturday, February 19, 2011
Projects
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Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Good Sport
I hope I don't jinx myself by saying this, but Ethan has been SO much better lately about just eating what we're eating. Last night he was doing a great job of at least trying everything.
Almonds? "Yucky"
Canned mandarin oranges: Not a fan (although he LOVES all fresh citrus)
Lettuce with homemade poppy seed dressing? Accepted! First time he's eaten salad!
Noodles? Spit out.
Stroganoff beef: Accepted!
The funniest part of the night though was when a piece of mushroom got into his bite of beef. He started to open his mouth to spit it out and we told him to keep it in and chew. He slowly, tentatively, kept chewing, but had these big pitiful, "are you really going to make me do this?" eyes. We kept coaching him to keep chewing until finally Mike said, "say 'ah'", Ethan opened his mouth, Mike pulled out the piece of mushroom, and Ethan happily ate the rest of the bite. I wish I had a picture of his sad little mushroom face! I was so proud of him for being a good sport and trying a bite of everything we gave him though!
Almonds? "Yucky"
Canned mandarin oranges: Not a fan (although he LOVES all fresh citrus)
Lettuce with homemade poppy seed dressing? Accepted! First time he's eaten salad!
Noodles? Spit out.
Stroganoff beef: Accepted!
The funniest part of the night though was when a piece of mushroom got into his bite of beef. He started to open his mouth to spit it out and we told him to keep it in and chew. He slowly, tentatively, kept chewing, but had these big pitiful, "are you really going to make me do this?" eyes. We kept coaching him to keep chewing until finally Mike said, "say 'ah'", Ethan opened his mouth, Mike pulled out the piece of mushroom, and Ethan happily ate the rest of the bite. I wish I had a picture of his sad little mushroom face! I was so proud of him for being a good sport and trying a bite of everything we gave him though!
Friday, February 11, 2011
The Salt Cellar
Yesterday my friend Jessica volunteered to babysit for us, so Mike and I started planning a date. I had mentioned earlier in the week that I have been wanting good seafood, like the fresh fancy stuff, not a frozen bag of precooked shrimp from Fry's. I thought we were going to do something low key last night, but Mike did some research and found out about this really good fresh seafood place in Tempe/Scottsdale. That's right, fresh fish in the desert. We decided that since we very rarely eat out and because we could count it as Valentine's Day, we would justify the cost and go. We didn't bring cameras, so here is a picture I found online:
And here is another one from online that shows what it actually looks like.
It is tiny and obscure, but there is nothing above ground. As soon as you walk in you go down a bunch of wooden stairs (surrounded by wooden walls) to a very pretty restaurant. I can't really describe it, but the atmosphere is great! Even on a Thursday night it was pretty busy (if you go, make a reservation). I got King Crab Legs, yum! Mike did too, but his meal came with steak as well.
The crab legs hit the spot and it was fun to get out, even if I was getting a migraine (which fortunately held off long enough for me to enjoy my food).
Thanks Mike for planning a fun evening!
And here is another one from online that shows what it actually looks like.
It is tiny and obscure, but there is nothing above ground. As soon as you walk in you go down a bunch of wooden stairs (surrounded by wooden walls) to a very pretty restaurant. I can't really describe it, but the atmosphere is great! Even on a Thursday night it was pretty busy (if you go, make a reservation). I got King Crab Legs, yum! Mike did too, but his meal came with steak as well.
The crab legs hit the spot and it was fun to get out, even if I was getting a migraine (which fortunately held off long enough for me to enjoy my food).
Thanks Mike for planning a fun evening!
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Snapshot
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Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Sleep Training
Is there an age that we stop dealing with sleep training?
A few weeks ago Ethan started getting up at about 5:50am (instead of 7:30am). Of course this was NOT ok with me, but I thought he might snap out of it on his own. Not so. After a week I started brainstorming what to do. One idea was a sleep training night light like this one, but I was hesitating because it would be close to $40, and what if it didn't work?
Most of the mornings during this time Mike got up and put Ethan in front of a cartoon so I could keep sleeping. But a few times I got up and told Ethan it was still night time. I would sing him a song, get him back in bed, and he would sleep until a reasonable time. This made me think the sleep training light would work. Still not wanting to spend $40, I went to Walmart and bought a plain night light that lights up blue (no cute sun/moon night lights there) and an outlet timer for a total of $7. I came home and showed Ethan how blue means "sleep" and we practiced "falling asleep" as soon as it turned blue. He caught on quickly. I put him down for a nap with the blue light, but was hearing quite a bit of noise, so I went in to check on him and found the night light in bed with him. Apparently he liked it. I explained that it needed to stay in the wall.
We have been using the light at naps and night time since Friday. He's not completely consistent yet, but one of the following is what happens each time:
1: Most common-Sleep in until or past when the light turns white, signaling wake up. YEAH!!! (I've set his light for 8am, so it's even better than before.)
2: Once or twice he has woken up early, but after I point out the blue light he goes back to sleep until the light turns white. Nice! (I expected mornings like this as we started out.)
3: Yesterday Ethan woke up early and I was sick so Mike went in to tell him to go back to sleep. He didn't want to, so Mike told him he could stay in his room and read or play. When I went in to get him after his wake up time he was sitting on the floor "reading" a Thomas book.
4: The fourth option is what could be the downfall of this idea and it demonstrated in this story.
7:15am (so not too early): Ethan is jiggling the locked doorknob and calling, "Mommy." Mommy stands outside the door and says, "Ethan, what color is the light?" Ethan: "White!" Mommy enters the room to find the night light pulled out of the outlet, so it is white. *sigh* Kids are smart.
Ethan is already sleeping more, and I'm optimistic that this will continue to work.
In other wake up news: since moving to his toddler bed, Ethan has insisted on opening his bedroom door in the morning. That means that he calls for me, I unlock the door, and then he MUST open it. Now, though, almost every morning, and even after most naps, he doesn't open the door, so after waiting a few seconds, I do. I inevitably find him laying on the floor spread eagle waiting for a diaper change. It looks like potty training may be on the horizon as Ethan is all of the sudden not liking the feeling of a dirty diaper.
A few weeks ago Ethan started getting up at about 5:50am (instead of 7:30am). Of course this was NOT ok with me, but I thought he might snap out of it on his own. Not so. After a week I started brainstorming what to do. One idea was a sleep training night light like this one, but I was hesitating because it would be close to $40, and what if it didn't work?
Most of the mornings during this time Mike got up and put Ethan in front of a cartoon so I could keep sleeping. But a few times I got up and told Ethan it was still night time. I would sing him a song, get him back in bed, and he would sleep until a reasonable time. This made me think the sleep training light would work. Still not wanting to spend $40, I went to Walmart and bought a plain night light that lights up blue (no cute sun/moon night lights there) and an outlet timer for a total of $7. I came home and showed Ethan how blue means "sleep" and we practiced "falling asleep" as soon as it turned blue. He caught on quickly. I put him down for a nap with the blue light, but was hearing quite a bit of noise, so I went in to check on him and found the night light in bed with him. Apparently he liked it. I explained that it needed to stay in the wall.
We have been using the light at naps and night time since Friday. He's not completely consistent yet, but one of the following is what happens each time:
1: Most common-Sleep in until or past when the light turns white, signaling wake up. YEAH!!! (I've set his light for 8am, so it's even better than before.)
2: Once or twice he has woken up early, but after I point out the blue light he goes back to sleep until the light turns white. Nice! (I expected mornings like this as we started out.)
3: Yesterday Ethan woke up early and I was sick so Mike went in to tell him to go back to sleep. He didn't want to, so Mike told him he could stay in his room and read or play. When I went in to get him after his wake up time he was sitting on the floor "reading" a Thomas book.
4: The fourth option is what could be the downfall of this idea and it demonstrated in this story.
7:15am (so not too early): Ethan is jiggling the locked doorknob and calling, "Mommy." Mommy stands outside the door and says, "Ethan, what color is the light?" Ethan: "White!" Mommy enters the room to find the night light pulled out of the outlet, so it is white. *sigh* Kids are smart.
Ethan is already sleeping more, and I'm optimistic that this will continue to work.
In other wake up news: since moving to his toddler bed, Ethan has insisted on opening his bedroom door in the morning. That means that he calls for me, I unlock the door, and then he MUST open it. Now, though, almost every morning, and even after most naps, he doesn't open the door, so after waiting a few seconds, I do. I inevitably find him laying on the floor spread eagle waiting for a diaper change. It looks like potty training may be on the horizon as Ethan is all of the sudden not liking the feeling of a dirty diaper.
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