Chrysalis House 5K

Last Saturday Jonathan and I ran in the Chrysalis House 5K at RJ Corman's property. We always love races on that course because it's a closed course and it's so beautiful. Plus they serve a full lunch with homemade ice cream after the race!  I knew a couple girls from my running group that would be running in the race and then I also ran in to a few of my MUMs girls at the race. So much fun to run in races where you know people and can cheer for them!

My goal for this race was to get below 30 minutes since in December I had been able to run a 5k in under 30 minutes. (Still nowhere close to my pre-kid 5k time but oh well.) The girls in my running group had been talking on facebook and we realized that there were three of us wanting to run in under 30 so we thought we'd run together. Unfortunately we all got split up during the beginning / weaving of the race. Afterwards we all laughed because I had one girl in my view the entire time and another girl said she kept me in her view the entire race. So I guess we ended up running around the same pace but just not together. Oh well. I love running with a running partner but I've gotten used to it being a single sport. I compete with myself and stay in my head the entire time.

The good news? I finished in under 30. The great news? I finished almost 2 minutes under my goal!! My official chip time was 28:05! I kind of couldn't believe it. We had uncharacteristically cool weather and I have a feeling that running in the cool weather helped my time. Either way I was pretty excited to get a post-kids PR!

The race was over 500 people and of course Jonathan placed 1st in his age group! He's pretty awesome! The big guns came out for this race because they gave out cash prizes for the top three male/female runners. So the fact that J got 1st in his age group with the practically professional runners racing is pretty impressive!

Here are some pictures from the race. (J's mom was kind enough to come in town to keep the kids so he could run without pushing them.)

Pre-race. Yes it was frigid and I was bound and determined to not get my pants out so I used my Zensah sleeves to keep my legs warm. I looked a bit silly but oh well. They did the trick. I wasn't too cold or too hot.

Some of the Lexington Moms Run This Town girls.

Some more MRTT girls.

Finish line picture. Yes, I passed her before we crossed:)

Some girls from my MUMs group! So fun to cheer for each other. 

All in all it was a great race day! We have one weekend off and then we're back at it the weekend afterwards. I love racing season!! 

My Girl

This little 3 year old is the sweetest little girl I know. She has a bit of spit-fire to her and some days I think the 3's may never end. But just that fast, she turns around and says/does the sweetest or kindest thing to her brother or to Jonathan or myself. She has such a precious heart.

Before church a few weeks ago I wanted to get pictures of the kids and Cayden refused to take a picture so I asked J to take a few of my girl and me. I love this girl so much!!

Mother's Day

My family made me feel so special on Mother's Day! Of course the kids woke up early (no sleeping in for this mama) and bombarded me with presents. They gave me a fun chevron purse and a couple necklaces and lip glosses. Fun girly stuff!

We went to Chuy's for lunch which was a treat. (We never actually go to sit down restaurants. We always do the order-at-the-counter places.) The kids were really good while we were there too! It was a Mother's Day miracle!

I was able to relax in the afternoon and Jonathan even treated me to folding the kids' laundry! :) Adalyn is pretty into holidays and even told me Happy Mother's Day today! Then asked if it was still Mother's Day. I told her every day is Mother's Day:)

I had to get a couple pictures with my sweet babies who made me a mama. (In my new Mother's Day necklace. J did good!)

 You have to excuse my son in any morning pictures. He is pretty serious about eating in the morning and there usually isn't a time in the morning before church that he isn't eating. Ha! 

I was thinking back to the years before kids when I wondered if I would ever get to celebrate Mother's Day. Wow. Life has changed so much and I'm one blessed mama!

The Great Cake Race 5K

A week ago Sunday Jonathan and I ran in a 5K. It was called The Great Cake Race and it was to benefit Sweet Blessings. We had never run in this race before, but the founder of Sweet Blessings spoke at my MUMs meeting this spring and I was so impressed by the non-profit that I wanted to run to support her. It's a non-profit that is run completely by volunteers to make amazing tiered/sculpted birthday cakes for sick kids or kids living in poverty who wouldn't normally get a birthday cake. She goes to our church and I was so impressed by her. Her non-profit creats hundreds of cakes per year and in the past was even highlighted on the Nightly News in a Making a Difference spot. (Check out the website to see some of the awesome cakes they have made.)

This was Derby weekend so this race was on a Sunday afternoon (instead of a Saturday morning) at Keeneland. (Our race course is packed out for Derby even though the race isn't there live.) The extra fun part of this race is that they give out Blue Bell ice cream and cupcakes after the race. Way better than a roll and banana like most races!

I can't remember ever having run in a Sunday afternoon race so that was a little different. It was a sunny and beautiful day but it was the hottest day that we had had so far this spring and we were not accustomed to running in afternoon heat. Between the heat and the hills at Keeneland it was a bit of a killer race. Jonathan was pushing the kids in this race and looked at me before the race and said that this would definitely not be a PR race for either of us. Conditions just weren't great. But I'll take sun over rain any day!

It was an out and back race which sometimes is a bit boring, but I've come to enjoy them now that I'm running races with Jonathan. I have fun running the first half watching for Jonathan to come running back towards me. When I see people coming my way, I start counting on my fingers to remember how many people are in front of J. This time, I was able to yell "8" to him as he passed me. (After I waived at the kids of course.)

I believe I started a bit too fast because I was feeling good. When I looked at my gps watch I was flying. And let's just say that on the second half of the course, it kicked me in the rear. I really paid for not pacing myself. The last quarter of the race was a struggle for me and my pace was crazy slow. I was just telling myself to keep my legs going because I was so hot and thirsty and thought I was going to hyperventilate. (Yes I run with water but I felt like I was taking a drink about every 10 steps.)

Anyway, I finally finished and when I did I was trying to weave through the 1 mile fun walkers which was a bit of a pain trying to weave at the finish line! (To anyone directing a race: please don't start a mile walk after the 5k because all of the 5k-ers have to eventually weave around walkers and the walkers don't understand race manners to stay to the side and not walk 4 people across. Ok, stepping off soap box.)

Here are some pictures Jonathan was able to take as I was running towards the finish line:

 Yes, I was using my new Simple Hydration bottle (in the back of my skirt) and I really LOVE it! It's awesome because the bottle itself hooks on your skirt/shorts so you don't have to wear a utility belt to hold it. 

I tried to share our official finish line pictures but we both have 1 mile walkers in the way of our finish line pictures. Bummer.

My goal was to finish this race in under 30 minutes. I'm still nowhere near my pre-kids pace, but pre-winter I was under a 30 minute 5k and I'd like to get back to that and then improve. My very sad news is that I finished in 30:03.  FOUR seconds. It was a slap in the face. FOUR! AHH! Next race I'm doing it.

Of course Jonathan rocked it (even with the stroller). When he passed me on the course he was number 8 and between there and the end he was able to turn it on and pass two more runners. Yes, he finished 6th. With a stroller. People kept stopping him afterwards with how amazed they were. I was one proud wife. He is seriously a beast on the course! This was a small race (282 racers) compared to many races, but 6th with a stroller is still a rock star!

I knew quite a few people from my running group and my mums group at the race so I was able to ask someone to get a picture of us. You know what they say, "the family that runs together, stays together". Oh, that isn't a saying? Well, we'll make it one. Yes, the kids look less than enthused. They really do love races. I promise.

 Jonathan got 1st in his age group! Adalyn was pretty excited to walk up with him to get his medal when his name was called. 

I ended up 81st and 6th in my age group. I'm excited that this is just the beginning of racing season. I love doing this with our family! I love that my kids get to participate and enjoy the race atmosphere. Oh and they did enjoy the ice cream (Adalyn) and cupcake (Cayden). It was hot, but it was a fun day! Now we're on to another race this Saturday. We've got quite a few races on the calendar for spring:)

A Day in Louisville

A week ago Sunday we spent the afternoon and evening in Louisville. Jonathan's family is Catholic and his oldest nephew had his first communion. I've only been to a Catholic church a few times so I had no clue what to expect. It ended up being a full mass which my kids weren't able to make it through. But we were at least able to be there with the family to support him and celebrate with him at the party afterwards!

We got a few pictures with Sammy and the rest of the family.

 This cousins picture went better than the one at Christmas, but we still weren't able to get everyone to look at the camera at the same time!

The kids had a great time playing with all of the cousins and second cousins. We had a perfect day for outside play! It was sunny and warm but not humid. Perfect weather to run around the yard and enjoy the swing set. The kids were absolutely worn out by the time we got home way past bedtime. It was fun day!

Breakfast at Keeneland

Since it's Derby weekend I figured this would be the perfect time to finally write this post!  The Saturday of Easter weekend we decided to do something new! Jes texted me on Friday and asked if we would be interested in going to Breakfast with the Works at Keeneland the next morning. I had heard of it but had never gone before. It is breakfast trackside (at our horse racing track) while you get to watch the horses "workout" and warm up for the afternoon races. The breakfast is between 7 and 8:30 am and I was a little worried about getting up and going on a Saturday when it's the same time as a workday! But I'm so glad we did!  For those not familiar with horse racing, the track only has live racing two months out of the year so this isn't available all year. This was only for the month of April until the fall meet.

Breakfast is free for kids and you don't have to pay to get in the park so it was really affordable! Plus they have a whole Kids Club Corner with a horse mascot and tons of kid activities, stickers, tattoos, coloring books, etc. The kids get to see the race horses up close and personal without the crazy crowds that gather for the races. It was the absolute perfect day for it and we had so much fun!

Adalyn really wanted to sit at this booth with my mom. All of the booths had TV's so you could see the horses running. 

 Cayden loves his Papa and only wants to be in Papa's arms/lap when he's around.

 Adalyn loves "Buckles". This is actually one of the cutest costumes I've ever seen. It actually looks like a big stuffed animal instead of a weird character.

Since it was Easter, they organized an egg hunt for the kids and a TON of people showed up for it. It was a bit out of control. Adalyn got two eggs and Cayden got one. Oh well. They didn't seem to care. They even had baby Easter animals for the kids to pet. 

After we got finished with all of the kid activities we went out to the track and let the kids stand up on the rail to watch the horses run. It was fun because some would just trot on by and some would run at race speed and then they would walk back to the beginning along the rail where we were standing so we could see them right up close and personal.

 Adalyn, Cayden and Caleb enjoying the excitement.

It really was fun to see the race horses up close and personal. It's a bit crazy to think about how expensive these horses are! We were even able to see one walk through the paddock while we were standing right next to it. I think the kids were in awe. I have to say that going to the the track at sunrise was so fun because different horses just keep running all morning long. (During the actual races, people are packed in so if you can see the track, you only actually see horses run for a minute or two and then you have to wait the 20-30 minutes until the next race.)

I tried to get a picture of the kids as we were leaving but it didn't happen.

 Cayden was a bit distracted with the candy that was in his basket.

We parked far away in the free parking which was down by the horse stalls. So as we were walking we were able to watch horses getting new shoes put on, getting baths, wearing their blankets and walking around. That part was almost as fun as watching the horses run.  It's just cool to know that this is literally in our backyard and it's this whole different world with a whole different culture. We are lucky and we need to take more advantage of it. As we were walking to our car, a horse trailer started unloading horses so we stopped to watch. One of the horse handlers asked Adalyn if she wanted to pet the horse. She was so excited to pet it. (Of course she had been asking to ride a horse all morning. So I'm sure she was hoping for a ride too.) When we got home we listed off all of the animals she got to see and pet that morning and I asked her which one was her favorite and she was adamant that the horsey was her favorite! What another fun family experience! We will definitely make a point of doing it again at the fall meet!