Summer Slacker...

I guess I've been a blogger slacker this summer. I wrapped up working the old job at the end of July and have been off since then... But it is amazing what I found to fill all that free time, as it has been an incredibly busy summer. However, the kids are now back to school, fall sports (that would be football, volleyball and soccer for us) are in full swing, and I start my new job today. Just waiting for the IT person to show up at our house to hook up the new computer.

Let's see... In July we traveled to the U.P. for our first family camping trip in a few years. It was amazing. The weather was beautiful, the company was great, and we had a wonderful time. Below are just a few pics...

The campground had an indoor pool, that was perfect for the one rainy day that we had on the trip...

Visiting Mackinac Island, near Arch Rock for this family shot.

Canoeing down the Tahquanemon River....

My three kiddos... Robby on the left, Jessi sitting in the middle, and Jason exploring out on the edge on the right.... This was in the Pictured Rock National Park/Shoreline.

After vacation and wrapping up work for one company, it was full swing in the football volunteer duties. We had over 350 kids sign up this year between flag, cheer and football. I ordered all new uniforms and spent lots of time sorting, assigning and handing them out. My next big "gig" was volunteering to help coach - as the highly unpaid assistant - for the 7th grade volleyball team. I am loving it though, even though it's only 1 week in, but so far - so good. It will be a chore to balance her volleyball and soccer with his football, and still do the youth football for the 3rd - 8th grade teams, but I can't think of much else I'd rather be doing... other than it would give me more time to train and run.

After running the 1/2 marathon in May, I did one 5k at the end of May, and a 10k a couple weeks ago. This coming weekend I have a 10 mile run, and then in October is another half. But for the most part, my training to a vacation just like my job did.... back on track though.

I also finished my bachelor's degree!! So glad, so very very glad, to be done with school. There is a reason that most college students are in their 20's and not their 30's with three kids and a job.... whew.

So there is the "short" recap of my summer!

The World of Middle School Track

This week has been fun for me. I've entered the world of middle school track meets! Since I am a "new" runner, I obviously wasn't a track star in school. Only ran one year (8th grade), as I preferred sports like volleyball and softball that required very little running. I went into this new season after hearing all the warnings about middle school track; such as comments like, "it's just track," "it's a social hour," or even better, "it's a waste of time." I have watched my kids in all kinds of sports, as they have all been blessed with that athletic gene, and on top if it, that competitive gene as well. So for my son, 7th grade track is not about social hour, as he doesn't do much, especially not a sport, "just for fun." After watching the first two meets of the year, and seeing how my son and some of the other kids have done at them, I would have to disagree with the warnings that were given to me. Yes, there are always those kids at middle school and even high school that are in it for the social factor; however, the majority of the kids that I was blessed to watch, are in it for the win, or at least to do the best that they can. Some are already keeping track of their best times, the schools best times, etc... 

However, prior to trying to become a runner myself, (I apologize in advance to any runners that I may offend) I may have jumped on the "running is not a sport" bandwagon, and my sister ran cross country and track. Now, after attempting to become a runner myself, I realize that the old saying about "walking (in this case running) a mile in someone else's shoes" definitely applies to this sport, and this sport at this level. These are middle school kids, and I'm sure we all remember "that" age. That age where your feet were 4 sizes too big for the rest of your body, when you were faced with surging hormones, bad acne, crushes and heartache, fitting in, etc...

These kids face their own type of fears every day, and when they are on the track they do not have a time-out, with a team huddle, and teammates to slap them on the shoulders and drag them out of their emotional downward spiral. Even in wrestling, which is huge in our family, the wrestlers are on the mat "alone," but the coach is right there in their corner, the teammates and fans are just feet away. On the track, the closest contact for these kids rounding turn three, is the person they are trying to beat, and that person isn't going to stand over their shoulder and say, "c'mon, you can beat me..."  When they get to that turn, and still have another 200 to 3000m to go, they have no voice to propel them forward but their own.

From my own last year of running, I have come to realize how mental this sport (and I know now that it really is a sport) really is. I may be very athletic, and running did come kind of natural once I started, even late in life, but I'm not as mentally strong as some of these middle school kids. There was one kid from our school that ran the 800 with my son. My son is quick and has placed in both meets, but the other kid was barely finishing lap one when the rest were finishing lap two. I know many many adults that would have stepped off the track right there, but this kid kept on jogging along at his own pace, and when he crossed the finish line, the team cheered him on, but on lap two at the first corner and for the next 600 m. He was all alone. So no matter if it would have taken him 2 minutes or 5 minutes to finish the race, the fact that he finished shows that he has learned one lesson of this sport already. And it's a lesson that I'll take with me next weekend at the Flying Pig, to keep going, to keep moving forward, and that no matter if I get passed by someone three times my age, that it's my race. I'm out to beat the goals I set for myself, and to do the best that I can. I would love to place in my age group someday, but being my first, I just want to finish. And in finishing, realize that I've already accomplished one goal in itself.

Here are a few pics of my son - I'm so proud of him. He cleared 8'9" - personal record for him - on the pole vault.

A Great Day for some Mud Fun...

My two oldest kids had a youth group "thing" after church this morning, so I promised my youngest some fun time outside. He learned last fall how to ride his bike without the training wheels, and with all this snow he hasn't been able to ride. So, we decided to brave the open road! We live in a rural area, and there's a nice long stretch of road (this is also where I run). Robby wanted to go to the "hill" not up the big hill, but to it, and then come back. This is about 1/2 mile down and another 1/2 mile back. We pulled his bike out of storage, brushed off the cobwebs and hit the open road.

          

We made it past the driveway before the first "wipeout" happened. Don't worry - he gracefully fell to the ground in a dramatic fashion as I caught the handlebars - his helmet is packed away somewhere with all our summer stuff, so I walked along with him. Robby wanted to know if he looked like "roadkill".. he was definitely posing in this photo after his graceful fall to the ground. A couple of times he steered off into the snow banks and gracefully fell into the snow... All the biking and falling made him thirsty, and we were only about 1/4 mile down the road!

 

   

After we turned around at the half mile mark, he really had the hang of it riding home. He did great, and only "purposely" went down one other snow bank. He didn't fall once on the way back - until.....

He asked if he could ride through the mud puddle at the end of our driveway, and being under the full affect of "spring fever" I told him go ahead (what was mom thinking?). So he speeds up to make a splash and before I could get my camera out, he fell smack dab in the middle of it. Being the terrible mother that I am, I doubled over in laughter, and then made him turn around to get a good picture!

   

So we have laundry to do, his shoes need to be washed and dried before school tomorrow! But it was fun, and he keeps asking when we can go again. He wants to try and ride up the hill (and I would like to be able to sprint up it as well - it's a good size hill though!) I told him when he gets stable enough he can be my new running partner - he can bike while I run - but he'll have to be able to make it up the hill!

Holiday Open House Ideas

Well I finally had time to do some "stuff" for the Holiday Open House that I am doing, along with 7 other girls that have a direct sale business... Here's a few of my ideas...

Now to get all the other stuff done that I need to do... ;-)