Where have I been?

I have been gone from the blogging world for a while for pretty much one single reason. . .find a new preschool for the twins! It has consumed my thoughts, laptop, free time & conversations with most people. 3 weeks ago I was handed a letter at pick up stating that the preschool the boys attended this year (one that we love for so many reasons) was closing it's doors after 28 years! 2 weeks left of school and I had to scramble to find the boys a new place to in the Fall. There are so many things to consider when picking a preschool for your children and it's time consuming to check out the different options. 

This last Tuesday I finally made my decision on a school for the boys. It was really sad to say goodbye to the school they were at this year and to their teachers, but kids are resilient and it hardly phased the boys that they were leaving even with their Mommy & teachers wiping tears away. 

I hadn't planned to have their teachers do this project quite so soon, but I wanted these current teachers that they loved so much to be a part of this gift for them.

This is not my own idea, there are many references to this gift floating around Pinterest and other blogs. I just only hope I can remember to keep it for their next 14 years of school! 

I purchased a copy of Oh, the Places You'll Go! by Dr. Seuss for each boy. The plan is to have each of their teachers sign a message to them at the end of the school year and then present it to them at their high school graduation. 

It's very likely that we will be moving 2-3 more times before they graduate from high school so I really hope I can find a safe place for these books to not get lost (I have a tendency to loose things unfortunately). 

I have been keeping up with my training for the Chicago Marathon. It's been a great stress relief for me to get out and run and create mental pro and con lists on the preschool choices. 

I promise to get back into blogging again! 

Moon in June 10K Race Recap

On Saturday June 8th we ran the Moon and June 10K road race. It raises money for the Halton Trauma Centre for the prevention of all forms of child maltreatment and neglect.

Most Saturday nights we get babysitters. It's our date night and has been for quite a while. I mentioned in this post how I really don't like going out on Friday nights because of being tired from the long week, having to get up for a long run the next morning, etc. It was quite rare that a couple of weeks ago when someone mentioned running a race on a Saturday night that I knew we were free. We usually have something planned with someone - I know we sound like we are the "it" thing with our social life - but I will refer back to the "me only wanting to go out on Saturday nights" and it limits how often we get together with people. 

My view at the night time start

There were lots of first with this date-night-race. The very first is that I have never ran a race at 9:00 at night before. I'm pretty sure I have never started a run after 7:00 at night so I knew this was going to be interesting. The day was pretty clear, but as the night went on there was a dark cloud that started hanging over us. I think a night race like this would have been really neat if there was a pretty sunset as we started. Unfortunately there was a dark rain cloud instead.

The cutest thing was a 1k race for the kids. They were all wearing matching blue shirts and were so excited to get started! 

Future Marathoners!

Have I mentioned I run and train with an amazing group of people? I have? Well I've said it again. Here's our group of runners from Canada Get Fit at the start of the race. Most of us ran the 10k but there was a 5k as well. 

Here's a shot of the Hubby and me at the start of the race. I say we "ran a race together" but that really isn't true. What I should say is we kiss at the starting line, both run a race, and he waits for me to finish. He's stinkin' fast! He ran this 10k in 43:39, placed 20th overall and was 14th in his age group! I ran it in 57:22. 

That's where my other first comes in. I realized when I finished the race that I have never "raced" a 10k before. Which really astonishes me! Really? I've ran a marathon and many half marathons but never a 10k. Strange. . . but I'll take another Personal Best time! It may be my first recorded 10k race time, but that still makes it a personal best!

Here's my training and running partner. He was good and got up on Saturday morning instead of sleeping in like I did (really when will I be able to sleep in on a Saturday again before the marathon in October?!?!) and ran 8k. 

He said to me at the beginning of the race "Since I ran this morning I'm just doing this for fun." 

Part way through the race he said "Feel free to go ahead at any time, I'm not pushing it." 

At the pub when we were enjoying a pint of beer and looking up our results he said "I beat you by 2 seconds!" 

Gee, Thanks Jim! Ha! :-) He said he was feeling really good and pushed us to the finish line in a great time! 

Not that this is a requirement for a race you run at night, but it really is an added perk: We were given beverage tickets to use once we finish the race! There was a lovely tent offering us beer & wine for our accomplishment! Yes please! 

Notice how the hubs has much more gone than I do? That's because he is super fast and was drinking while the rest of us finished! :-)

If we are still living here at this time next year we will do the race again for sure! The boys will be a bit over 4 so we may think about having them participate in the kids run - but as my hubby said when we got home that night "That was a really fun date night" we may keep it a kid free event! 

Have you ever ran a night race? Do you integrate physical fitness with your date nights with your partner?

Summary Saturday

Ugh! This week was not a good one for me for training. I really dropped the ball. It goes to show that my training is really a 2 person job. I need my hubby around to help keep me on track - not that he has to be my cheerleader to get me out the door - he is just so great about being available to help with the boys so I can stay on my schedule. He left on Sunday for a work conference until Friday. That was 5 naps & 5 betimes I did myself this week. The getting ready for school, preparing meals, taking walks to the park, etc. are the easy part with toddlers - getting them ready for naps & bed is a whole other ball game - an utterly exhausting one!

Enough complaining! Here was my pitiful week in training:

Training

Sunday -  started to rearrange the bedrooms to get ready for the big boy beds to arrive. Although not an official workout, after about the 8th set of stairs I did carrying bed parts down to the basement storage I started to feel it so I'm calling this a stair workout day!

Monday - Nothing :-(

Tuesday - Nothing :-(

Wednesday - National Running Day (See my post here about NRD) - run 4.2k of hill repeats strength training - upper body & core, I'm pretty sure I did close to 200 push ups. I need to work on my plank. I can barely hold it for longer than a minute!

Thursday - Nothing :-(

Friday - Nothing :-( I was going to go on a run when the hubby came home, but I was exhausted from going on a pre-school field trip with the twins that morning.

Saturday - I got to sleep in on a Saturday for probably the only time in the next 4+ months. The hubby and I signed up with some other people from our running group for The Moon in June 10k in Burlington, Ontario. I'll do a race recap in another post. It was fun! I have never ran that late at night before and I realized I had never raced a 10k so I have a new personal best time of 57:20!

At the Starting Line!

Web Find

I was on the search for something for the twins to make for Father's Day. Last year we made these cute hand cards and picture frame. I think I may do the pictures again (if I can find my letters - they are some place) as it would be cute to see them as they grow through the years. 

We made these little cards as well last year. 

Searching Pinterest for ideas for this year I came across this car shirt. Daddy wears it and the boys can play cars on his back giving him a nice "massage"! There is a printable template here at The Blue Basket

The Blue Basket: Car Shirt

Goals for this week

• Get completely back on track with training now that the hubby is back in town
• Schedule my gait analysis with the certificate I have from a silent auction
• Plan a fun Father's Day for the hubby!

What plans do you have for Father's Day? Do you do homemade gifts or store bought?

Have a great week!

National Running Day

I know I'm a day late, National Running Day was yesterday June 5th. But in my defense I didn't run until last evening, I'm a single Mommy this week, and does "national" mean the U.S.? because I'm currently living in Canada! :-)

I always chuckle when I see "Today is National _____ Day" posts on Facebook. They are usually silly ones like National Peanut Day or National Wash your Dog Day. I've never participated in a National ____ Day. But I am all for a National Running Day. I have a babysitter planned for every Wednesday so I can run and the hubby can golf. I was really looking forward to the sitter coming so I could get out and run since I missed the group run and workout on Monday night due to the hubby being out of town.

Of course one of the twins had to have an epic meltdown when the babysitter arrived and used every heart wrenching plea in the book to get me to stay: "Mommy I NEED you!", "Mommy I will miss you!" "Mommy please don't leave me!", etc. Ugh! 

I finally left the house and a short while later got this nice note from the babysitter! She may have been lying just to make me feel better (although she assured me when I got home she wasn't - he really did settle down) but I don't care - it made me feel better and helped me have a good run! I swear 3 is the new terrible 2!

My National Running Day/Night run was a short one of 4.2k (2.5 miles) of hill repeats followed by an upper arm and core workout. I'm pretty sure that I did close to 200 push ups last night! I feel ok today, but tomorrow I may need a straw to get my coffee up to my mouth! 

The slogan of the gym we strength train at is "I Train my Body for Function not Fashion"! I love it! Of course I'm not going to complain if I start getting the look of toner muscles and my clothes fit a bit better, but I do all this running and strength training to feel healthy physically and mentally!

Did you get out for a run for National Running Day? What other National ______ Days do you celebrate? 

Summary Saturday

Happy June! I really like the month of June - Last day of School, Summer officially begins, and the weather isn't quite too horribly hot yet.

We have been having some pretty amazing weather her in the Toronto area - a true spring I would say. We started our week out with a Geocache adventure (see my original Geocache post here) and hike. I sought out a cache in a trail area I often run in as it dips down quite below street level and has a river/creek that runs through it. I thought the boys would love it. Unfortunately we couldn't find the cache. It was suppose to be in-between the upper and lower trails. Both the hubby and I scaled the hill and couldn't find it. The GPS kept saying we were right on top of it, but we couldn't see it. It's possible someone took it or it was misplaced - but the online log said it was last found on May 20th. Bummer. . .

The boys were tired from the walk down (we should have brought the wagon with) so we need to abandon our search and head back to the car. We went the opposite direction of the car and came out of the trail in a different neighborhood. Ooops! Instead of going back in with two tired and hungry toddlers I decided to run on the street back to the car and pick them up. I got quite the unexpected workout in that day!

Hike & Geocache find attempt

Training

Sunday -  60+ min hike and 2k run to fetch the car for tired & hungry toddlers :-)

Monday - run = speed work 15 min WU, 3 min fast/2 min cool down, 15 min CD
strength training =  intense leg workout! I'm pretty sure we did about 150 squats - half of them holding a 20lb weight in each had, 5+ minutes of wall sits holding the 40lbs of weight, & stationary lunges! Ouch!

Tuesday - 60 minutes of much need restorative yoga

Wednesday - run = hill repeats 20 min WU, 3 x 75 second hills, 20 min CD
strength training = upper body & core
Pub Night - some would call us a breakfast (on Saturdays) and happy hour group with a running problem! I just call us fun!

Thursday - Took the boys to the fitness gym's outdoor pool for the first time. While it wasn't an official workout - we all fell asleep very quickly at bedtime. Swimming, fresh air and the hot sun was a perfect combination to wear us all out!

Friday - Another trip to the outdoor pool. This time the hubby came with. During the mandatory 15 minute break the kids had to take out of the pool I swam laps. Whew! I'm out of shape for swimming! It was only 15 minutes, but I feel like I ran a 5k! I don't see a triathlon in my future any time soon!

Saturday - 16k long run - which according to our watches was actually closer to 17k (10.5 miles). It was hot and humid when we stepped out the door. Something we will have to get used to training in the summer months. Ugh! I don't like humid running weather.

Web Find

I follow quite a few fitness and running Mommies on Instagram. One in particular @hausofgirls posts a miles challenge each month. I've never officially participated, but I saw it exactly on the 1st of the month so I thought I would give it a try. This month is #56milesinjune - They can be running or walking miles. I put in 10.5 already and will our mileage getting up there this month I think 56 miles will be no problem. Click here to follow Haus of Girls - Fit Family on Facebook. 

Goals for the Week

* Survive the week with the hubby traveling Sunday - Friday for work

* Research some Father's Day crafts for the twins to make

* Finish some looming projects - hang pictures in my craft room, display summer bucket list, get twins' big boy bedrooms set up

Do you have any mileage goals for the month of June? Any ideas for me for Father's Day crafts?!?! 

Have a great week!

Appetizer & Drinks Party

A couple times a year we like to have the hubby's work team over for a social event with their spouse/significant other. As a spouse to someone who works long hours and travels I enjoy to meet the people he spends more time with than me! :-) I also like to celebrate the other spouses/significant others who hold down their side of the family like I do.

Friday evening we had the team over for a Spring Social. I don't care for doing much of anything on Friday nights - I always do my long runs on Saturday mornings and that is sacred to me. It is really hard for me to get out and do a 1.5/2+ hour run by myself. I need to the support of my running group for the route and company to be out running that long. We meet at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday mornings so I try to keep Friday nights low key so that I can get up the next morning. As the summer goes on that will be more and more important. Not only because we will be going longer and longer each Saturday but also because with the warmth of the summer we will be meeting earlier in the morning.

I wanted to keep things easy for myself with preparing for a Friday party. I did all appetizers and tried to prepare as much as possible Thursday night. Below are the recipes I made with notes about what I prepared when.

therightrecipe.org

I made this layered hummus dip a couple of times when my Mom was visiting and it's a big hit so I made it again. See my recipe here. I chopped the olives, tomatoes, cucumbers, and onion the night before. Stored them in a container in the refrigerator and right before guests arrived I assembled and sprinkled the cheese & dill on top. Worked out great!

Annie's Eats

I first had this strawberry bruschetta at a neighbors house (Hi Maria!) and loved it. It's the perfect summer appetizer! I have used this recipe from annies-eats.com. I chopped up the strawberries & basil and sliced the bread the night before. All stored nicely in a baggie & plastic container until right before the guests arrived. 

bevcooks.com

These crostini's are really tasty! I love the combination of the sweet from the honey and peach & the pop you get in your mouth from the blue cheese. I toasted the bread the night before - really all I could do a head of time. It doesn't take too much time to assemble and melt the cheese before the party, but I started with these first when I was getting everything together.

Fresh Catering

Asparagus is in season so I thought these phyllo wraps would be a good appetizer to have and they were perfect because I could prepare the entire recipe the night before minus the baking. I lined them up on the cookie sheet, covered with plastic wrap, and popped in the refrigerator until about 30 mins before guests were scheduled to arrive. 

I of course had to make my "famous" guacamole. Honestly this is a winner every time. The hubby complained the next morning that while he was cleaning up from the party there was no guacamole to snack on or save for the next day. I guess next time I should put a bit away for him in case he doesn't get his fill during the party. I don't have a "pretty" picture of my guacamole so I found this one on the web from Jinie's Kitchen. Click here for my guacamole recipe.

Glorious Treats

I wanted to serve something sweet, but I didn't want to spend a lot of time baking something. I found this recipe for Caramel Cream Cheese Apple Dip on Pinterest and thought it would be great to give a try! I followed the recipe exactly keeping in mind that it works out best if the cream cheese is completely at room temperature. I sprinkled the top with Skor Chip Its because they are a Hershey product and that was the crowd I was entertaining! I made the entire recipe the night before, covered with plastic wrap and kept in the refrigerator until about 30 mins before the party. I wanted the cream cheese to soften a bit to make it easier to dip the apples in. 

Erin's Food Files

And last but not least the signature drink for the party Pineapple Sangria. This unfortunately can't be made ahead of time. I put this all together within the hour of the guests arriving. It was really good! I made small stir skewers of fruit and served it in mason jar mugs! It was a bit sweet, but really good!

I hope you are able to enjoy some of these recipes for your next get together!

Summary Saturday

Training

Sunday - off

Monday - run: 6.5 easy trail run. It was a humid morning with some storms coming in - the first one of the season - it's going to be a long summer of marathon training in the heat. 

strength training:  the gym was closed today due to the Canadian holiday Victoria Day

Tuesday - off day. Manicure & Pedicure with my Mom before taking her to the airport. 

Wednesday -  run: it was raining so I went to the gym to run on the treadmill. Click here to read about my love/hate relationship with the treadmill

Thursday - off

Friday - off 

Saturday -  14.3k long run, we are starting to get up there in distance. Nothing compared to later on in the training season, but I feel like anything longer than 10k for consistent weekends is a big deal

Web Find

I'm finding that my web finds have a trend - they are all about food recipes! This week I was searching for a rhubarb recipe after getting some from a friend of ours. I'm going to give this Orange Rhubarb Bread recipe a try from the Taste of Home magazine website. 

Orange Rhubarb Bread from Taste of Home

Goals for the Week

* Get the twins signed up for swimming & ice skating lessons. Patrick is obsessed with hockey and we really need to get him on skates. Luckily here in Canada there are plenty of places year round to take lessons. Swimming will be a good activity to keep us busy this summer and I would like the boys to have some basic lessons. 

* We were at a church fundraiser Saturday night and I bid on and won a gait analysis from a local chiropractor. I'm not sure how good it will be but I don't think it will hurt for me to see what they have to say. It only cost me $25 and it went to a good cause! 

At what age did you start swimming, skating or other kind of lessons for your children? What distance do you feel moves from more than just a nice easy weekend run to a serious training long run?