Pool's Closing...Fall's Coming

Our neighborhood pool closes tomorrow, so here are some pictures from Noah's last day of swimming outside for '08. He can "swim" by himself with a noodle now. I am so proud! I have some video of it that I took on my phone, but I can't figure out how to post it. I will work on that.

Golden Leaf Training Update

I did 11 miles on the trails today. It actually didn't feel too bad. I have been thinking about time goals for the half marathon. It is actually a 13.3 mile race, so just a tad longer than a 1/2 marathon. The Runner's World calculator says I can do it in 2:11. That would be a 1/2 marathon PR for me, though, and since it's my first high altitude trail race, I think that time is a bit aggressive. I'm thinking I should be able to finish in under 2:20, but I'll be happy with anything under 2:30. My training this week looks like this:

Monday: 5 miles + strength
Tuesday: 4 mile pace
Wednesday: 9* 400 Intervals
Thursday: 3 miles
Friday: Rest
Saturday: 15K Trail Race
Sunday: Cross

I am trying to run my shortest runs of the week on Thursdays now. Since I went back to work, my Thursday morning runs have been crap because I am so worn out by then. I'm hoping that will help. Only 4 weeks til the race. That means only 2 more super long runs left: a 12 mile and a 13 mile. Then I will do a 2 week taper, and then it will be here. I can't wait. We got hotel reservations last week, so we are all set to go!

Obama Showed Up!

I am so excited I could explode! Just as I was going to bed at the end of Biden's speech (which I thought was great, BTW), Obama walks onto the stage. This whole thing is so awesome!!!

Here are a few weird things I've noticed since the convention started:

1. There are like 9 helicopters hovering around the Pepsi Center at any given moment.

2. When I drove through downtown on my way back to my office from visiting a school yesterday, there were a ton of Police SUV's with police officers standing on the running boards military style with their guns and everything.

3. There are more black cars with darkly tinted windows driving around down there than I have ever seen.

4. While I've managed to avoid the convention traffic with my master advance planning, others I've been meeting with have not. People I work with have been up to an hour late for meetings, and I expect it to get really bad tomorrow when the convention moves to the Pepsi Center.

5. Dan said that even as far south as he works (Denver Tech Center, south suburbs, basically), there are police patrolling all the buildings and the parking lots are all locked down.

It's just so freakin' exciting. I can't wait until tomorrow!!!

Haircut Pictures

Our computer issue is still not fixed, but Dan figured out a way around it because, frankly, he is a computer genius. Here are a couple of pics of Noah's haircut!

Haircut

OK, so we got Noah's hair cut this weekend, but we are having computer issues so I can't post a picture. I didn't want to take off much length because we want to let him grow it out, but he needed his bangs cut and a little taken off the back too so it wouldn't turn into a mullet. I am not totally happy with the haircut because I think she took too much off the sides, but of course, Noah would look cute with any haircut, so he's still adorable!

Obama Biden 2008

Obama Biden 2008
Originally uploaded by crazyroadsendhere

There is a lot of excitement in the air here in the Denver area right now. I'm so jazzed myself that I can hardly sit still. I got my text message first thing this morning that Biden was Obama's choice for VP, and I realized that the convention is this week!!! As in, Monday! I didn't even try to get a ticket for Obama's speech because we just have too much going on right now, but I really wish I could be there. I feel inspired when I listen to him speak. People say things like, "Well, he's just a pretty talker," but I think it is important for a president to be able to inspire people with words. He can't do it all himself. He has to get others to follow him. And that is what beautiful speakers do. They lead. With words. They get stuff done with their ability to inspire others. And Obama is about to do some important things. Like restore our standing in the world community. Like create better opportunities for my at-risk students. And like quit giving tax cuts to big oil. Got hope? I do.

School Daze

We have all been insanely busy, but Noah has adjusted to his new school without any problems at all. He loves it and sometimes doesn't want to leave when we pick him up. I love it too because their curriculum is amazing and he is learning so much already. They had back to school night on Tuesday and I was really impressed by the specific educational knowledge of his teacher. I knew I liked her from the million and one times I was there before we chose it, but I had no idea that her knowledge of early childhood education was as extensive as it is.

Other than that, Dan's job is good, I am still running 5 days/week + one day of cross training, and we are still set to close on the new house on September 10. My new job is crazy busy, but I really like the people I am working with and I am really glad I made the change so far. Next week I finally get to go out to my centers and meet the kids, so I am excited about that.

Pike's Peak Ascent

No, I didn't run it, but my friend Jen did and it sounds like it was a nightmare. It was like 45 and raining in Manitou Springs when it started. It would have been better for the runners if it was colder because it is really bad to be already soaked to the bone when you are running up into winter conditions complete with sub freezing temps, snow, hail, lightning, and wind. They let some of the runners finish, but then they were stranded at the top of Pike's Peak because the road was closed due to the bad conditions. By the time Jen hit the A-Frame at 11,950 feet, there were 80 people at the top with hypothermia (out of the 200 or so who were up there), and it was lightning, snowing, and hailing. So they started turning people around at the A-Frame.

Keep in mind that at this point, Jen only had 3 miles to go to make it to the summit. Instead, race organizers told her that for her own safety, she would have to turn around and run 10.2 miles back down to the start. So, she did. 20 miles. Up and down Pike's Peak. She is a stud! Congrats, Jen! You are awesome!

10K Trail Run

I ran a 10K for speed on trails this morning to see how I'm coming along with the training for the Golden Leaf Half Marathon. It has been raining like mad here and I found out that running in mud just plain sucks. The course I ran has a mile and a half or so of straight up at the beginning so hopefully that will help me make it through the first part of the Golden Leaf that runs straight up Snowmass Ski Area. Here are my splits:

Mile 1: 10:20
Mile 2: 9:11
Mile 3: 10:25
Mile 4: 10:17
Mile 5: 11:02
Mile 6: 9:30
Last .2: 1:53

Total Time: 1:02:39

Not my best time ever for a 10K, but I am pretty happy with it considering the terrain. Any guesses as to which mile was a muddy uphill that turned my feet into mud caked bricks? If you guessed Mile 5, you win the prize!* I also just about hit the puke threshold in that mile. Yum!

*There's not really a prize.

Almost Done

They are just about finished with our house. Last week, we had a disagreement with the lender on the interest rate we were supposed to get that almost had us walking away from the deal altogether. But it looks like they are taking care of it and we'll lock next week, so everything should be fine. I gotta tell ya though, I am not attached enough to this place to get myself into a stupid deal. I like it, but houses aren't everything. Here are some pics of the new stuff they have done.

They painted the door and the garage: They put in the appliances:

And they finished the fireplace (my favorite thing in the house...it turns on with a light switch, just like my mom's!):

Lyon Visit

Our friends Jen and Steve and their family are here this week from Kansas. Jen is doing the Pike's Peak Ascent on Saturday because she is a crazy person. It's a half marathon that runs up the Barr trail straight to the top of Pike's Peak. Anyway, we met them and our friend Jason and his family (we missed you, Kate) for dinner earlier this week. It was a zoo and so much fun because there were 7 kids between us! Here are the pics:

Marlowe and Noah:
Jackson and Ella:

Dan and Isaiah:
Jackson, Ella, Noah, and Ethan:
C.J.:
Jackson, Noah, and Ethan:
Isaiah:

All the kids:
Marlowe and Ethan:
Ella, CJ, Marlowe, and Noah:
Ethan and CJ:

Happy Birthday, Christie!

Happy birthday to my sister in law, Christie! I love this pic of her and her two brothers when she was pregnant. Have an awesome day, Christie!

More Pictures from Mike and Sara's visit

Sara is a pretty darned good photographer! These are some of the pics she took while she was here. These are from the Chicago Lakes Trail:

A cool car Dan saw up by Mount Evans:Downtown Castle Rock:And one more of Dan, Mike, and Noah from Garden of the Gods:

We miss you, Mike and Sara!

Happy Birthday, Eric!

Today is my favorite brother's birthday. This is a pic of him with his son and me and my son. Have a happy day, dude!

Chicago Lakes Trail

Yesterday, I did a 9 mile trail run. It was rough. I thought it would be great to prepare me for the Golden Leaf, but mostly it just made me hurt. First of all, the trail runs around 10,000 to well over 11,000 feet. Second of all, the terrain is pretty rough, and even though I've hiked the trail before, I really didn't know how hard it would be to run uphill while dodging rocks and roots for that long at that altitude. Needless to say, there was some walking involved.

I also swam today just to see if I could do a little more than I did last time. I could...a little...still have a long way to go. Why can't I have arms like Michael Phelps? I guess that would look a little weird on a chick.

Uncle Mike and Sara are here!

Noah's Uncle Mike and his girlfriend (almost fiance) Sara are here and we have been having a blast. Noah just loves both of them and it doesn't hurt that he has 4 adults' undivided attention. They went to Broncos training camp while I was working on Thursday and today we went to Garden of the Gods. Here are some pictures from their visit.

Noah playing:

Noah and Sara after singing:

Noah right before training camp and right after learning the Packers traded Favre:Garden of the Gods (some of the pics are a little weird because it was raining and I got water on my camera lens):