Firecracker 4k on the 4th of July

It has been a long time since I signed up for a race. In fact, Peter was 7 months old when I last did one. I bundled up Ella, got her stroller (not the jogging kind) and walked the Danville 5k. I have had no time to train and now that there are 3 kids, I can't push them all in a stroller and letting one of them walk completely ruins a work out. I get on the treadmill now, sometimes when they are sleeping, other times they are awake. I take the latter as a personal challenge as well as a physical one: Keep them happy and out of danger for 30 minutes while they are aware I am totally unable to get to them unless I hop off the moving belt. I think they also take this as a personal challenge: Sit still until Mom gets really into her workout, then act up, ask for snacks, turn off the show we're watching, tell her you have to go potty, and throw toys around. So you see my dilemma. Andrew has been super busy so running outside doesn't happen. On that note, my shins paid for it yesterday. There is so much to be said for proper training. A treadmill is more forgiving than pavement. Oh well. I had a lot of fun with my friend Kim. When we were in the group waiting to start, there were a few larger guys behind us. She said, "It should be our goal to beat them." Note: never judge how good of shape someone is in based on their size. We were ahead of them the whole time and then...we had slowed at the end, my legs were on fire (so were my ears for some weird reason, well it was hot) anyway, we look over and there they were! Ready to pass us. Kim got a blast of energy and took off, I, on the other hand, had to talk my body into submission. Watching them get ahead of me, my pride took over. I bolted into a dead sprint. Uphill, for the last leg of the race. It reminded me of The Little Engine Who Could. "I think I can I think I can I think I can." I did it. I passed them, caught almost up to Kim and finished the race. It is a lot of fun racing even when your only goal is to beat large line backers. I've done 2 marathons, 1 half marathon, a 10k, a 5k, and now a 4k. I never ran for more than 1/2 mile before I was married. I have my mom to thank for getting me into it I guess. She finished all the marathons with me and that is such a rush. Most days I consider myself to have only completed the race of "life with toddlers." Sure, I get hugs, kisses, pictures, smiles and love, which is awesome, but occasionally a t-shirt to parade around in is fun too. So I sign up to race.

After the race we went to a friend's house to swim. I found Ella's patriotic suit from our neighbor. 

Our youngest boy isn't afraid of anything. He jumped off the diving board many times and we had to dive for him once. That was the end of his swimming for the day. We pray for his safety most of all right now for sure!

They had a nice big yard for the kids (and Andrew) :) to play in. My shirt wearing boys need some sun on those backs, eh? 

We had a nice 4th of July. Hope you did too!