The Super Smithsons!

It has become an annual tradition... The Ka-POW Superhero Adventure Run.  The first year, Melanie and I ran together and Melanie was dressed up as super girl.  In fact, that year, so was Noelle.  Brandon was Captain America and I had a Superman shirt on (Oliver was wearing red, white, and blue, but was just little).  The next year, we were super, but Melanie was Super Melanie, Noelle was Super Noelle, and so on.  This year we were a super team.  The Super Smithsons.  For fun, we made matching shirts.  We decided to try this tie dye spray and made an activity out of it.

 I made a stencil of an "S" so we could add that to the front.

 On race day, it was the girls that participated in the event while the boys cheered us on.  Here we are pre-race.  This was Noelle's first race, ever!

 Here I am with my ultimate super hero husband.  I love him!

 This year, we talked some of our favorite people to join us!  Liz signed her daughter, Morgan, up.  Then, during packet pickup, was informed that she would need to participate too.  At 38 weeks pregnant, it was definitely proof of her super mom powers!  Ethan had super powers of his own... he sneaked into the race and had fun with us!

 And we are off!

 The event had several obstacles to prove our super-ness.  We had to go through a room that looked like it was rotating (we all agreed that was the worst), through some bounce houses, down a water slide, through "dangerous" foaming bubbles, over and under, and pretty much everything you could think of.  It was 2 miles of crazy adventure... and we loved it!  All to protect Gilbert from danger, of course.

  The very last obstacle was a water slide in the form of a bounce house.  It really sent me flying...  then I hit the mats, feet first.  My feet stopped instantly (rubbing on the rubber), my top half did not.  This super girl crashed!  Thankfully, I barely missed taking Noelle out.

 We got WET!

 Running through the finish together!

 It's the Super Smithsons to the rescue!

Ka-Pow Super Hero Adventure Race

The Smithson Family is full of super heroes!  There is Super Melanie, with her super giggle.  Super Noelle and her super powers of negotiation... and Super Oliver, and his super speed and ability to scale tall towers.  With Super Mom and Super Dad in tow... the Super Smithson's participated in the Town of Gilbert's Ka-POW Super Hero Adventure Race (in full handmade super hero costumes...  which is fun in it's self).

Here are my super girls walking to the race.

 Here they are, showing off their muscles while standing in front of the map of the race.

 Justice League... meet the Super Smithson's.  I think you have met your match!

 Super Melanie and Super Mom are starting the race....  Here they go!

 Down the first obstacle.  (Super Oliver met us at the bottom of the slide!)

 After 2 miles and 15 obstacles, Super Melanie says to me "Mom...  I think I lost my super strength.  Carry me...  I want to go fast".  Being a Super Mom...  I couldn't say no.  I put her on my back and kept running.

 Thankfully, we soon found Super Noelle, and Super Melanie regained her powers.

 Here she is going down her last obstacles.

 Finishing strong!!!

Here are some bonus pictures.  While Super Dad was trying to take a picture of us at the start, he said he kept hearing "Cheese."  He looked down and saw Super Noelle, in full "cheese form".  It was too cute to pass up.

 Super Oliver got to bounce in a bounce house for the first time ever.  He LOVED it!

 Super Oliver can do anything... 

 Here are all the super kids, after the race and on the way for a fun lunch!

Our family had such a fun Saturday.  I'm so grateful to have the whole family together and that we are able to make some memories.  I'm blessed.  I love my family.

Run. Bike. Swim.

Saturday morning started bright and early (really early) in Anthem, Arizona for the annual reverse triathlon. This is my first triathlon ever, and I'm not going to lie, I was 40% excited and 60% nervous! The morning started out stressful as we left late, made more stops on the way there then I had planned... had to go home to GET the number that I apparently had left at the house (race numbers are important?!? What's that all about?) Yet, somehow we made it, and even got there a little early, giving me time to calm.

Here is a before picture of me.

They write your race number on your right arm and your age on your right leg. To say this brings out the competitive beast in me would be an understatement. I found myself looking at every one's leg as I was passing them (or when they were passing me). If their age was in the same bracket as mine, I got extra competitive. It definitely made the game more fun.

The first event was running, a 5K. I came in 9th overall for females, 3rd for my age bracket, with a time of 26:47. It wasn't my fastest 5K, but then again, I have never ran a 5K and followed it up with another sport. We ran a beautiful course and ended up in the parking lot in the transition area. I have decided that the transitions between sports is a sport all on it's own. You have to remember where you put you stuff, get to it, change out, and get out of the transition area as fast as possible. I believe that this is where I lost most of my time. I got my bike, put on my gloves, took off my visor, put on my helmet and went to the "red line". This is when the worker at the line lectured me for not taking off my ipod (even though I didn't even have head phones IN my ears). Eventually he decided I was good, but didn't tell me I could go whenever... so I waited. I probably lost a minute in just that. Eventually I was off, so no big harm done.

The bike course had some slope to it. There were parts that were hard, and parts that made up for the major climbs. It was a 20K, which amounted to roughly 3-4.5mile loops and the to and from. I felt good about my biking, but definitely learned the difference between a mountain bike (which I have) and a street bike in that race. Those people on street bikes were flying past me like there was no tomorrow. I suppose if this were a sport I got real serious about, I could definitely see the benefit of a street bike. But in the meanwhile, my mountain bike is just fine.
I got a lot of compliments during my bike ride. The biggest two were my outfit (which I picked found specifically for this race because I had to be able to do all 3 events in the same outfit) and my smile. I do smile a lot while I'm running and apparently while I'm biking too. I have had this compliment in every event I have participate in, but for some reason it meant more to me this time.

I finished the bike portion (including the transitions) in 55:42. I timed my loops at about 15.5 minutes a piece, so I really think my transition time is to blame for a lot of time loss. O-well. Live and Learn.

The final event was swimming. I don't have any pictures of the swim or the finish because Brandon had Oliver and it was too crowded to get him in the pool area. At the transition from bike to swim, I took off my glasses. This was helpful during the swim, but made it really hard to find where I was suppose to go. Some really helpful worker saw me running around aimlessly and pointed me to the pool. I am embarrassed to admit that I didn't realize I was that blind. The swim was only 400m. This required us to swim 8 laps (in 8 different lanes) a total of 2 times. The pool was crazy crowded, and I could feel people hitting my legs and I know I was bumping into other swimmers. It was fun though. It took me 11:30 to complete the swim and run through the finish line (this is including my blind "I'm lost and can't find the pool entrance nor can I find the first lane of the swim" time. Once again, live and learn). When I do this event again (and I will) I will know what to expect!

I had so much fun with this tri. I know I will be doing more in my future. I think I found my newest addiction (up there with marathons).

My favorite posters during the race where:

"I'm Proud of You, Mom"

"Suck it up, Buttercup, everyone is watching"

and

"Keep on Tri-ing"

(all these posters were made by and for someone other than myself; however, they were sincerely appreciated)
Oh, I forgot, I finished 33/83 overall for the females, and 6/15 for my age bracket. Not too shabby.

Ka-PoW Superhero Adventure Race

Saturday, the Town of Gilbert sponsored the Ka-PoW Superhero Adventure Race at Freestone Park! Holy Guacamole Batman! Was it Fun!

I found some costumes for the girls through friends and family, got myself a Superman shirt, Brandon a Captain America shirt, and Oliver something in red, white and blue. After dressing everyone up, we headed in the car to the park. The girls had NO idea what we had planned, they just knew it involved costumes, and costumes are always good!

When we got there, and got Melanie and myself registered, we started having fun. First, they were taking free pictures of the runners in front of a green screen. I snuck Noelle into the picture (with their permission) and got a fun souvenir with the three super girls along with a few other super heroes. I don't have a good scanner, so it's not posted. Then we took some pictures with the cut out superheroes. I couldn't pass up a picture with Superman. Brandon and Oliver make a great Captain Americas, don't you think?Grandma Traci came to watch the event and got this great picture of the whole super family!

Then the girls bounced in the bounce houses! Eventually it was time for some running. First up: Noelle in the Flash Dash.

She went over!

She went across!

And She went through!

I'm so proud of her! She did a great job!

Then we went over to the start of the "big race". We got there just in time. Melanie has the cutest, silliest little run you have ever seen. I just love it. It has character!

There were several obstacles on our 1 mile "Wolverine Run". Here was the line up of the obstacles Melanie and I encountered:

Superman's Tower (a large superman bounce house complete with it's own obstacles inside and a slide to get out)

Wonder Woman's Wall ( a 6 foot tall wall, that we went under instead of over... because we are small super heroes. We may not be able to fly, but we can blast through walls, right?)

Wolverine Wash (shown in the below picture).

The Aquaman Slide (a huge slip and slide down the side of one of the hills at Freestone Park).

Spiderman's Web Crawl (a rope web that we had to crawl under to "escape")

Captain America Tunnels (long tunnels made of large plastic pipe)

Back through the Wolverine Wash...

Over the He-Man Mountain (a large pyramid haystack)

and through the Finish Line!

Here we are approaching the finish.

We Made it!

I'm so proud of Melanie. 1 mile is really really far for someone so small. She started strong, got tired and thirsty right off. Walked, Ran super fast, walked, Ran even faster, rinse and repeat. She was cracking me up. She'd stop running, and tell me she was tired, so I would tell her we can walk. Walking is okay. She'd take a few steps and then say "okay, let's run!" At one point, she asked me if we could lay in the grass for a while. I had to tell her no. I had a flash back of my marathon, and my desire to lay down. I told her we can always walk. 5 seconds later she saw the gigantic slip and slide and was off running again. I'm so impressed by her. She did the whole thing and was ready to bounce in the bounce house as soon as she was done.

Since it was a Superhero Adventure Race, there was a booth devoted to the up and coming comic book convention. The people manning that booth were definitely acting the part. We couldn't pass up a photo op. Not pictured are Batman and Batgirl. I'm not sure were they went off to, but I'm really pretty happy with the picture I got. Tell me this isn't awesome!

Way to go Noelle and Melanie! Both of you ran your first races and did an amazing job! Mommy is SO proud of you!!!

Brian Mickelson Marathon

This past weekend was the Brian Mickelson Marathon in Cottonwood, Arizona.  I picked this marathon out about a month before I had Oliver as one I wanted to try to train for.  So, I had Oliver, and after waiting the 6 weeks (okay, I lie, I started running at 5 weeks post-Oliver), I started training.  I followed a training plan I found online and decided that once I get up to the larger runs I would decide if I could handle an actual marathon or not.

About a month ago, I decided I was all in.  I registered and reserved a hotel. 

A few days prior to the race, I received an informational email regarding the upcoming race.  In in, it said: "This year is the inaugural marathon event and we have nearly 50 registered to take on the 26.2 miles!"  *Nearly*?  In my vocabulary, that means "less than".  When I ran the Sedona Marathon last year, there were between 100-200 runners, and I remember thinking that was small.  50 is tiny.  So, I decided to try not to think about the size.

Saturday morning, we got up bright and early (thanks to Oliver, who saved the day by waking us up at 5 o'clock when we slept through the 4 o'clock alarm), and headed to the start.  It was a little chilly at the beginning, but felt nice.

 I was happy to find out that one of my runners was an engineering friend, Ox.  He was running his first marathon and had his dad (who happens to be our pediatrician) was there to support him.  It was fun seeing a friendly face in the race (even if I only saw his face for a few minutes and then he was off ahead of me).

I had a plan for this race.  My plan was to run a lot slower at the beginning so that I could keep a steady pace for the entire race.  My goal was to run in less than 5 hours, so my goal pace was 10:45 min/ miles.  That is a lot slower than my training runs, so I thought it would be doable.  I borrowed a friend's garmin (Thank you Lybi) and kept track. 

The first 17 miles were super easy and flew by.  Ironically, that's were all the hard climbs were.  But I had my family as a cheer team every once in a while, and my music was keeping me excited and jamming.  After mile 4, I really didn't see anyone until mile 9 (when the people that were faster than me were coming back from the long 6.75 mile there and back segment).  Really, the only people I saw were the ad station workers and my cute family.  

At mile 18, I realized I passed a porta-potty, but by time I made that realization, I was going down hill and didn't want to go back up. I didn't really *need* to use it, so I thought I'd use the next one.  Ha Ha!!!  What next one?  I started asking ad workers at mile 19 if they knew where the next restroom would be.  All I got was blank stares and "I don't know".  At mile 22, I was directed by the ad station to go off course a quarter mile (half mile round trip) to use an outhouse.  I did as he directed, but after getting of the restroom, I was momentarily lost.  They only markings on this race were little pink flags and pink painted arrows on the ground.   And have I mentioned that there are no other runners around?  yikes!

Thankfully, I found the trail, but unfortunately, after that, I lost my momentum.  I still was able to run, and made it past the mile marker 23.  Until this point, I had kept my goal pace, and was on track to make my goal of running the whole marathon in less than 5 hours.  Then something happened...  I got so sick.  Can we say DeHyDrAtIoN?!?!  It was 95 degrees in Cottonwood on Saturday.  So, even though I had been drinking and re-fueling like a crazy girl the entire race, it still happened.  There really wasn't anything I think I could have done differently.  I had turned onto a dirt trail around mile 18.5 and never saw the family on the course again.  I decided I was determined to finish, so started walking (though dizzily).  I tried calling the family after I passed mile 24 to see if that would encourage me (my music stopped working, stinkin' ear phones), but I didn't get through to them.  Before I got to mile 25, I was on another dirt trail and got the feeling I should sit down.  I sat.  Then I got a feeling I should lay... then a strong feeling came over me that perhaps laying would be a bad idea because no one would ever find me.  (Have I mentioned that I hadn't seen any runners in a LONG LONG time).  I got back up and kept going.  I passed mile 25 and was on the main road again.  I started speed walking.  I passed mile 26... I started jogging...  I ran through the finish.

Did I make my goal of finishing in less than 5 hours?  Heck no! (My official time was 5:25:58).  Did I finish?  Heck yes!  And I happy with it.  Yes.  (Though I will admit to mixed feelings at first, but I have gone over it again and again in my head, and I don't think I could have changed my approach at all to prevent my dehydration).

So, how am I feeling now, 2 days later... just fine!  I'm already planning my next marathon.  I'm thinking Phoenix Marathon, March 2, 2013 (and probably one or 2 others early next year) Until then, I'm thinking it's time to take on some half marathons!  But believe me, I'm definitely not running another long race in 90+ weather any time soon.  Yikes!

Random question... turns out that there was only 2 people in my age group, so technically I took second.  If you were me, would you ask for your reward?  I didn't stay for the ceremony because I had to hurry back, shower and feed Mr. Oliver.  I didn't realize I had "placed" until just now looking at the results.

Lost Dutchman's Half Marathon

This weekend was the Lost Dutchman Half Marathon. I decided quite last minute (a few weeks ago, the day before the prices went up) to sign up for the race and give it a shot. I have only ran two other half marathons and my fastest time prior to this race was 2 hours, 16 minutes, and some change. I didn't really expect to beat that, but I wanted to finish my first long distance race (since having Oliver exactly 3 months before the race) and feel good about myself. Well... I did it!

Here I am with my favorite cheer team (minus my ultimate favorite cheer captain who was taking the picture). Oliver and Melanie are sharing a seat and keeping each other nice and warm.Here I am running to the finish (I had just pasted mile 13, and had the last .1 mile to go) P.S. I passed that man right after this picture was taken. I don't think I passed the girl, but I was close.

So, here is my run down. I started feel really good. We were running into the sun for the first 2 miles, then turned and the sun was beaming on the left side of us. Then around Mile 4.5 we turned and headed toward the sun again. I was still feeling really good, and being passed like crazy... good grief! ha ha! It was when I made that turn, that the first place runner passed me, headed the OTHER direction! wow! I cheered him on, but I think he was too much "in the zone" to have noticed. I was following and pacing myself with a gal in a pink running shirt and black head band and kept thinking I'd know when the turn around point is because I'd see her coming the other direction. Eventually, I turned around and started heading away from the sun... and down hill! (That felt really good!). At this point, I actually passed my pink shirt pacer. I was really feeling good. I had not stopped running at all until mile 10, where I walked through the water station, just long enough to get some water (I had been drinking my sports drink and wanted to get some of the sugary taste out of my mouth). I started running again, and still was excited and feeling good. At this point, I was at the turn around for the 10K race, and I was passing 10kers. That was kind of fun. Ironically, I was also still passing half marathon walkers that were only 3.1 miles into the race.

At mile 11, I pulled my phone out and called Brandon to tell him I was almost done. It was right after I hung up the phone from calling him that I had an "emergency situation". At mile 12 I ended up making a long pit stop, sigh... But then I ran my last 1.1 miles super strong. I ended up making a personal record of 2 hours, 11 minutes, and 49 seconds. I wouldn't change a thing in my running... and the stop was out of my control, so I'm really happy. I have been looking at the numbers over and over (because I'm an engineer, and I over analyze everything) and you can really tell from my pace break downs that I was really quite consistently around 9:30 min/mile. But then you look at the overall pace, at just over 10 min/mil... that tells you how much my stop effected my time. But, as I said, I still ran strong, so I'm happy with that part (and if you are wondering, yes, I'm trying to talk myself into being happy with my time even though I had to stop for MINUTES! But I am in no way upset with how I ran the race)

When I registered for this race, I was really worried about how boring it may be for the rest of my family. They are always such loyal fans and come to all my events, but I know that the longer races mean more down time for them. But, after the race, I uploaded the pictures and found these:

Turns out, they had a blast at the park, then enjoyed the blow up obstacle course bounce house.

And while they waited for me, they took turns pointing out everyone that was wearing an orange running shirt... even the men. Melanie kept laughing at daddy and telling him "no, mommy is a girl, not a boy". "No, that's not mommy, her number is up high". "No, mommy is wearing a belt, like this". And when she found me, I hear "MOMMY!!!!" And a lot of giggles from her and Noelle (who also was screaming "mommy!".) It makes me smile and want to cry at the same time when I hear them cheering me on.

The rest of the day, both girls kept talking about how mom ran in a race, and how she was "super fast". :) I couldn't ask for better fans. They make my love for running mean something more than just a crazy hobby or obsession... It means I'm teaching them the value of setting goals, and following through... and for a brief moment, they make me feel like a super hero. It's kind of an emotional thing.