Monday, April 21, 2014

Colors Colors Everywhere...

...and not just because it was Easter. 

The Neon Dash was this past Saturday the 19th. I was pumped and ready to go. Mikelle and I arrived early to make sure we could acquire our check-in packets. 

Chris bought me an overpriced burger after paying $10 for parking ($10 for parking! Seriously!) Our friends the Kreps family arrived soon after and we were ready to run! 


I had to sit across the street in the shade while Mikelle held our place in line waiting to get enter and check in:


She wouldn't let me take a picture, so this was the best I could "sneak"
I KNOW she can smile! I've seen it!

Tutu and all!




(Below)With the Kreps...let's start the race!
Mikelle is almost smiling in these....
After Tev snapped this shot, he thought the above captions were needed...Cute....
Before I get into the actual race itself, allow me to back up. 

Last Wednesday morning, Alexander threw up what appeared to be "out of the blue". He seemed fine before and after, other than falling asleep for a nap earlier than usual. I crossed my fingers that it was a fluke and there wasn't a stomach bug going around. But the next morning (Thursday), Mikelle came to me saying she didn't feel well, and she wanted a bowl by her bed. I decided that it wasn't some 13 year old drama thing to get out of going to school, and with Alexander's incident the day before, I allowed her to stay home. She was grumpy and felt ill that morning, but then she seemed okay later.  She didn't throw up, however.

Now I was worried that I would be hit with this bug and not be able to do the 5K. 

The following day, Good Friday, the 18th, was a rare cooler cloudy day. Mikelle was fine. She went to the mall with her friends. I went to the park with my cousin Ashlee and her step-daughter Olivia. Olivia, Alexander and Christian ran around and played. We saw a mama duck on the water with her babies. We also saw a guy fish a large pylon out of the water with his fishing pole.  

Later, after I picked up Mikelle from the mall, we headed down the road to JC Penney's where I hoped it wouldn't be a disaster choosing something somewhat feminine looking for her to wear on Easter. What she ended up picking out was fine, but it wasn't exactly in the "Easter" realm I was hoping for. However, I took what I could get. 

Besides, Alexander had A FIT in their little stroller/cart thingies because we wouldn't let him out. He was really letting the whole store know all about his displeasure. Mikelle was in the fitting room, and I was waiting for her. This time, there was no taking him out or handing him off to someone else. Yes, I got looks from people. But I actually had a 13 year old *willing* to try on something nice and almost feminine looking, so I wasn't leaving until that was accomplished.

In other news, there aren't really cliffs to jump off of around here, as this is the valley floor. 

It's going to be one long summer. :sigh:

But other than my stress level, we were all relatively healthy when we arrived home. Then late Friday night, my stomach started to feel weird. I was worried that it was the start of something. But then Saturday morning I was fine. Still, I remember how my workouts earlier in the week were more of a struggle. I just hoped it wouldn't be a problem for the race that night. 

Well, it was. Oh my gosh.

37:45 was my Neon Dash 5k time. That was about the same as Color Run in January (that was 37:32), but the Neon Dash kicked my butt. I must have been under the weather because it was an easier course than the Color Run and sun wasn't even an issue. Especially about 20 minutes in, I was not feeling my usual running self. However, I pushed through because I kept thinking, "I paid money for this! Parking was a ridiculous $10 for this! There's not even any sun! Keep going, weirdo! You've been training for this! You've been looking forward to this!" And when I started feeling that way, I think it is an interesting coincidence that THIS SONG began to play on my Running playlist (which is on shuffle).


Therefore, when I finished, it didn't feel victorious. I truly felt like crap and I went somewhere to just lie down on the grass.

The Kreps with Mikelle showed up to the finish line later and they were in much better form. 


And Easter the next day? Christian was sick. I thought he might have eaten too much candy that morning, but no, it was the same bug. He did end up throwing up Sunday evening. 

Speaking of too much candy, so Sunday morning, Chris was sound asleep from catching up on rest from his overtime marathon, and I of course was laid out from the race the night before and how disgusting I felt. That meant, when Alexander awoke, he raided the Easter candy and Easter baskets in an unsupervised way that only the youngest child could get away with. 

Let's just say, he was one spun up hyperactive version of himself at church (and that's saying a lot, sine he's always full of energy). But then he came off his high and passed out in the Primary room. And this was while the piano was being played!



When it was time for Junior Primary to go to class, we all figured it was best to just leave him there. I don't know exactly how long he slept during Senior Primary, but apparently when he woke up he was MAD. Really upset. He was taken to his class, but he wasn't having any of it. I even came in and tried to help. But it didn't help. He was so upset. 

Therefore, let's just say the last 10 minutes of church was spent in the clerk's office with Daddy drawing on the chalkboard.
 
So that was Easter! LOL! Oh, the eggs? Yeah, I didn't get them all done. This is pretty much what was completed (the bowl on the left).

 It is what it is. Kids still liked looking for them in the yard. Christian is so sweet though. He said the eggs I decorated taste the best.



With Christian not feeling well on Sunday, the four of us had Honeybaked Ham, corn, green beans and mashed potatoes. 

A special Sunday Easter Doodle did materialize (above, right). I wasn't able to get it posted until this morning, however. 

And below are pictures of Alexander and Olivia at the park last Friday. Look how cute they are holding hands! If I knew it would have been a perfect cloudy day with diffused light, I would have had Easter pictures taken of the kids! But there is no way to really know that it would have been that perfect. Especially here in hell.

 


 

Once Christian is recovered, I am assuming this bug has passed through all of us (Chris thinks he had it in a weird stomach-cramping way last week).

Until next time...







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