McDowell Mtn Ragnar

Last February, I ran the Del Sol Ragnar, completely under trained but desperately needing a runcation with my rag family.  We had such a great time and immediately signed up for the trail race that would give us the coveted double medal: the Phoenix.

Several months later, race day rolled around.  I had improved my training but then took off 2 months because of morning sickness.  I eased back into running and was satisfied with the challenge.  But after running a half marathon two weeks prior, had significant pain in my left foot.  I saw a doc who confirmed it was tendonitis, probably due to running pregnant and the relaxin that caused my bones to soften and the tendons to work harder to keep it all together.  But since it wasn't broken and he agree that continuing to run wouldn't make it any worse, I packed my bags.

I flew down to Phoenix to meet my Ragnar family.  Due to miscommunication and scheduling, our suggested team of 8 was only a team of 6.  But they are good friends and solid runners so we tackled it anyway.  On thursday, one of the guys arrived early and set up our camp.  Thankfully, because as camp got more crowded, the teams were located further and further from the starting line.  We found a sports bar for dinner as we devoured food and chatted.  Then we spent the night at a hotel to make sure we slept well before the race.  With a late starting time, we got to sleep well and eat breakfast before driving back to camp.  There was some shuffling as we got the rest of the gear dropped of and finished setting up but the weather was beautiful and we were off to a great start.

Without the full team of 8, we decided to forgo the regular schedule of running assignments and make it up as suited us the best.  Likely, everyone would need to take 4 legs instead of three but we wanted to be sure everyone got to run all three of the designated trails.  I took a green lap first, an "easy" 4.1 loop through gorgeous scenery.  Solomon shoes was there with a huge tent and truckload of shoes that they loaned to runners for them to try out on the trail.  Those shoes made a huge difference to me, I didn't even feel the tendonitis until my third leg, when I switched back to a road shoe instead of their more protective and support trail shoes. We enjoyed the dinner Ragnar offered with our registration (pasta and salad) and spent lots of time lounging around.  I love them trail runs because you get to spend so much time with your team at camp.  I took the yellow loop just before midnight.  Many people argued it was more difficult than red.  It was shorter but more technical (not so fun in the dark) and 4.9 miles long.  After that leg, I had to sleep several hours which was definitely a struggle.  We had two tents--one for sleeping and one for gear/changing.  So we were warm enough to sleep but my hips were killing me from the run and sleeping on the ground (I'm such an old lady).

I took my third leg around 6 am, feeling rested enough but between the pressure of the baby on my pelvis and the strain in my foot from switching back to road shoes, I confess I shied away from the red.  The green and red trails began and ended together, so I took the green loop again, running 4.1 instead of 6.5 miles.  The rest of my team rocked it, most of them running four legs.  One teammate was running this as her first Ragnar and was not as prepared as she hoped so the two of us had to beg out of our fourth legs.  Which means two of my friends took a fifth leg! (crazy!)  seriously, my heroes.  I don't think my team would have let me run a fourth leg away, with my obviously pregnant belly leading the way.

A food truck had camped out through the night with us, offering wood fire oven baked pizzas.  It was beyond delicious and our team visited multiple times.  We visited the gear tent and drooled over the jackets and new line of shorts and tanks. Two friends and I decided we couldn't resist and wanted to buy the new Ragnar jacket but unfortunately wasn't available in my size.  (always remember to shop early)  I think our whole team snuck in a visit to the medic tent to get ice, only one for actually injury as one run rewarded him a fall and road rash.  They are always friendly and so helpful.

And finally our last runner finished his fifth leg for a total of 27 miles in two days.  We ran in with him and celebrated.  We collected our medals and took team pictures.

We took our time packing and breaking down camp.  Our total time was impressive, especially being short two runners, but we took our time to miss the initial rush on the shuttles as we cleaned up camp and retrieved our cars.  A few teammates drifted away, leaving just four of us that headed into town.  Our hotel wasn't ready yet so we got slurpees and then settled into the sports car next to our hotel.  It turned out to having amazing food so we had dinner there as well.  Another friend from AZ, who had been able to get work off to join the race, met us at the hotel to hang out and catch up as we showered and refreshed.  Then we meandered through dinner and slept well in our comfy hotel.

Sunday morning, we woke up a little more stiff and sore than before.  We got to the airport and went in search of the amazing cookies we spontaneous bought there in February.  We had to try three terminals but it was totally worth it.  We bought a surplus of cookies and conducted a very scientific study of which cookie was best.

And then flew home, showered again and slept half the day.  :)

baby #4

Husband and I went to the ultra sound together.  The technician was training a new technician which was kind of fun because she went a little slower and carefully explained lots of details about what she was looking for and different possibilities.  When the tech first touched the instrument to my belly, anticipating finding the head, we immediately realized baby was breech so we got a quick view of the back end first.  But the tech hurried away before we got a very clear idea of gender.  I thought maybe a boy based on the quick flash I had seen but waited to express my opinion.  We looked at baby's brain and various organs.  They looked at baby's cord, lighting up the colors to see the blood flow.  What I thought had been evidence of boy highlighted as cord, turning my suspicion to a girl as we continued.  Baby had one hand tangled through the legs, making it a little harder to see but we got clear views of hands and feet and even 3D images of face.  The tech saved gender for the very end but as she approached it, I saw clear suspicion of boy and pointed it out.  She laughed and congratulated us, confirming baby is definitely a boy!  So our baby boy appears to be healthy and doing great.

We took a quick tour of the labor and delivery, pleased with our options and getting more and more excited.

Since I was leaving that afternoon for an out-of-town race, we collected the girls, eager to share our news.  They gathered around a large wrapped box.  When asked for a final guess, much to my surprise, they said boy.  Until that morning, Husband and L had consistently guessed boy but A and E were adamant that baby would be a girl.  Even I thought girl (perhaps out of habit? but that makes me 0 for 4 on accurate predictions, Husband now being 3 for 4).  They tore into the box releasing blue balloons into the room.  They delighted at the balloons and L quickly clued in first, reading the message on the balloons and announcing to sisters "It's a boy!"  They squealed and dancing and twirled around the room with an overabundance of glee and enthusiasm.  They got to call a few family members to share the news and eventually settled in for a quick lunch as they suggested names, none of which are being considered.

October

October really was fast.


Pregnancy progresses.  Not so sick and starting to feel the baby move!  I'm always hungry and eat a turkey sandwich nearly every day.  I haven't had the aversion to junk food as much this pregnancy (not sure if that's a good or bad thing) and am overall, doing great.  At the 16 week appointment I got to have a quick peek at the baby, not enough to see gender but got to see baby's beautiful hands waving and a strong heartbeat.  The screen tests are all negative and everything looks good.  We find out gender soon!


L's schedule is particularly full with dance practices, piano lessons and additional rehearsals for the Nutcracker.  A bounces around, always begging for play dates and eagerly trying to read.  And E continues to be the every charming, precocious little imp monster.  She's my cuddle bug and I love all the one-on-one time I get with her before baby gets here.


L and A got hair cuts.  It's so much easier to manage their beautiful curls when their hair is short.  L was reluctant but after weeks of arguing, it wasn't up to her anymore.  after a few days, she decided she really loves it because she gets to wear her hair down more instead of a fuzzy ponytail every day.  Meanwhile, A has decided to grow her hair long, much more easily managed because her hair is as straight as her sisters' is curly.


We visited the dentist and all of us got a strong reminder to floss in addition to good brushing.  Poor L, despite her best efforts, has 4 small cavities and A has one.  E made it through her first official visit though, including xrays and did great.


We got to have a family dinner with all my siblings including my out of state sister and her new fiancee.  It was a short evening but the girls love to see their cousins and the adults had a great time chatting and making inappropriate jokes.


The girls and I had a great day out.  I took L and A with me to my cousin's baby shower.  They loved playing with the hostess' little boys and I loved getting to see my cousin and her adorably big-with-twins-belly.  After that we went to a baptism.  My daughter's friend (and one of L's good friends) was baptized, followed with a fun luncheon at the house.  It was a beautiful experience and L was particularly moved and excited and is eagerly looking forward to her own baptism next spring.


I ran the Haunted Half marathon with some friends.  I drove ridiculously early to meet them and get loaded onto the shuttle buses.  It was somewhat of a last minute decision to run.  I waited to register once I found out I was pregnant.  But after first trimester, I was able to build my mileage back up.  My training wasn't really sufficient for a half marathon distance but since it is a downhill race and there wasn't a 10K option, we decided to just take it easy.  So the buses dropped us off at the top of a canyon where we huddled under blankets for warmth until the starting time (they had to close the canyon for the race so we waited about an hour).  One of our little group, very fit and an experienced runner, took off with much more ambitious intentions.  But another friend and I hung back until the pack had thinned before our moderate start.  We ran the first five miles and then began alternating walking and running.  As expected, my hips got sore and my knees and bottom of my feet started to hurt.  But it really wasn't until 10 miles that I started to question my sanity.  So we walked the last 3 miles and managed a brief sprint across the finish line in about 3 hours total.  Happy to have met our goal, we devoured pizza, took pictures and hobbled back to our cars to return home.  The recovery took me longer than I thought but I'm really glad I got in one last half marathon before baby.

Halloween

The girls talked for weeks about costume ideas and came up with some pretty brilliant plans.  At one point they decided to be the three fairies from Sleeping Beauty, then I would be Maleficent and Daddy would be Diaval (the crow).  After a few days they had a great epiphany, realizing that next year we would have a baby and since they are convinced the baby is a girl, she could be baby Aurora.  So that plan is saved for next year.  Next they decided E would be a marshmallow, A and L would wear sandwich boards of chocolate and graham crackers so that together, they made a s’more!  That idea was my favorite.  But then they decided they had to be something more “Halloween-ish”.  L and A decided to be witches and E would be their black cat.

Our first Halloween event was a party at my cousin’s house for their daughter’s birthday/Halloween.  L’s witch costume looked so fantastic but A’s witch dress was too big.  (luckily I brought a back up just in case since we were borrowing the costume and if for some reason it didn’t work out)  So A wore the monster costume from a previous dance recital, sporting florescent colors and fur (it might be my favorite costume ever) and E donned her black cat costume, complete with ears, drawn on whiskers, and a pink tutu.  The party was a ton of fun, playing in the back yard with cousins and friends.  We had caramel dipped apples for dessert and the girls loved painting pumpkins.

Later in the week the girls got to celebrate Halloween at school.  And of course, all decided on new costumes.  So they raided the dress up closet and L went to school as a tiger, A dressed up as Elsa and E wore her Sofia dress.  L and A had a costume parade at school and E had a class party, getting to take treats to her friends to celebrate.

On Friday night, Daddy was back in town so we invited Grandpa, Grammy and Papa all over for dinner and pumpkin carving.  Pumpkin carving was a little chaotic but Daddy and Papa in particular were so patient to create exactly what the girls wanted.  Husband even got out a dremel tool so he could more exactly follow A’s drawing.  Papa managed to carve a Mickey (with E’s help), Minnie and Tinkerbell.  Grandpa helped L make a traditional jack o lantern and then a self portrait.  I carved a skull and crossbones and then Grammy and I made my favorite jack o lantern of the night—a fierce looking face eating a very distressed, tiny pumpkin.  Unfortunately I used A’s tiny pumpkin (from a class field trip) without her permission and she got really upset when she saw what I did.  The adults thought it was hilarious.  The children did not.

On Saturday morning I co-taught a launch class at the gym.  We dressed up as skeletons, with full make up and ratted hair.  It was so fun and we looked awesome.  After, A went to a friend’s birthday party while L went to dance rehearsal.  We ran some errands, made jack o lantern quesadillas for lunch, watched Halloween cartoons, visited the airplane museum and then got to do more celebrating that evening.  We all got dressed up again.  Husband and I wore our skeleton shirts—mine has a baby skeleton on the belly and husband’s has a burgers, fries and a coke.  L dressed up as Elsa, A wore and Anna dress and E very eagerly donned her new Olaf costume.  (unbelievably cute!)  But A was pretty reluctant so she only wore the Anna dress long enough for a family picture and then ran upstairs to change into the costume of her choice for trick or treating.  She returned in her Elsa dress.  So our two Elsas and Olaf eagerly raced outside to join their friends for trick or treating.  Husband followed them while Grammy, Papa and I stayed at the house.  A and E only lasted two blocks before they were ready to come home and then spent the rest of the evening racing to the door to pass out candy.  We had jack o lantern pizzas, a veggie skeleton and candy corn fruit cups (A and E had to be threatened to stay in their seats and eat their dinner before they could resume door duty).  L stayed out almost two hours, collecting a boatload of candy and finally returned home to eat dinner, full of excitement and so happy she could barely sit still. 

Let the candy rationing begin.