Spring Break in Chicago

My original plan for our family spring break was to go somewhere warm.  But I waited way too long to find flights and with the price increases for last minute flights I just couldn't justify spending that much money for travel.  This limited our choice to a location that was easy to drive to.

I have been to Chicago many times since it was only a little over an hour from my hometown.  But the kids have never been.  So that is how we decided on Chicago for our spring break.

Chicago here we come...

We stayed at the Embassy Suites in downtown Chicago.  This was a great choice!  The rooms were very nice and clean.  They had a huge free breakfast every morning.  They also had free drinks and appetizers every night.  The pool was probably a little too small for the size of the hotel.  But the kids didn't care.  If you ask them what their favorite part of the trip was, they would say swimming at the hotel.  They said this last year too when we went to Puerto Rico.  Next year we should probably just stay at the local Holiday Inn Express and have them swim all day.

The location was perfect too.  We could walk to several restaurants.  We probably could have walked to the museums too but we like the convenience of driving with the little ones.

The first day we arrived we went to Willis Tower, third tallest building in the world (formerly known as the Sears Tower).  This was the longest line we waited in the entire trip.  But we bought a City Pass while we were there.  This was the best advice of the trip and I would highly recommend this to anyone going to Chicago to see the museums.  What is a City Pass?  It is like a fast pass at Disney World.  It lets you skip all the long lines to get into the museums.  And they were very, very long.  It was  really good to see all of the museums so packed.

Kaitlyn and Jackson waiting to go up Willis Tower

They had no fear looking down.

Kaitlyn on the sky deck

I am the only scared one.

I can't believe the kids were not scared to walk out on the sky deck. My knees were shaking.  That night we ate pizza from Lou Malnati's. I just love Chicago deep dish pizza.  We ended the night with some swimming in the pool.

The next day we went to Shedd Aquarium. The other great advice I got was to get there early.  If you didn't and did not have a City Pass I bet you had to wait about 2 hours to get in.  We were second in line getting there 10 minutes before it opened and having a City Pass.  This was Kaitlyn's favorite museum.  She has said for a few years now that she wants to be a dolphin trainer so she loved watching the dolphins.

Looking at the fish

Waiting for the dolphin show

That evening we went to the American Girl Doll store.  Actually this was probably Kaitlyn's highlight of the trip.  If you have never been, it is quite an experience.  Ryan took the boys into Lego World first and then met up with us in the store.  He couldn't believe that they had lines to get the doll's hair done.  I don't think many men would wait to even have their own hair done.

2 little gymnasts

The boys at the lego store.

We ate at Rainforest Cafe that night.  Our kids are usually not the best in restaurants.  They are always on the go.  But they were perfect that night.  It was such a nice family meal out!

Enjoying a meal out!

Next up was the Field Museum.  Once again the kid's loved this place!  It is a huge museum with so many different exhibitions.  Kaitlyn and Jackson were fighting like brothers and sisters at this point so I took Jackson around and Ryan took Kaitlyn and Nathan.  This worked out great.  Jackson could lead the way and go at his own pace.

I had a great time with my little man.

Kaitlyn and Nathan enjoying time with Daddy.

That night Ryan got a migraine headache. The plan was to go to Navy Pier but we decided to just stay at the hotel.  This ended up being one of the best nights.  The kids got to do lots of swimming and for dinner we ate the free appetizers at the hotel.  I also let the kids have pop which they thought was awesome.  Later the kids made a fort out of the beds at the hotel and were having a blast playing together.  That is what family vacations are really about.

The last day we went to the Museum of Science and Industry.  This was my favorite museum and probably Jackson's and Nathan's too.  It made me realize that I picked the right field for my career.  All that science stuff gets me so excited.

My little cutie astronaut

So many cool interactive games at the museum.

At one time, I knew every muscle, bone and organ in the body.  Hopefully I still do....

I just want to eat him up.

I love my little scientists.

We ended the trip by making a quick trip to Navy Pier.  A ride on the Ferris Wheel and some ice cream and then it was off to Grammie and Grandpa's house to get ready for Easter.

On the Ferris Wheel with my loves!

Overall a fantastic spring break with the family!

A quick running update:  There was no running on the trip...but seeing the runners along the lake did make me miss it.  I did run a few miles once we got to LaPorte.  Man it is hilly in my dad's neighborhood. I haven't been this sore in a long time.  Note to self-must do more hill work soon.

Finally in the Double Digits Again

I ran 10 miles today!  My last double digit run was on December 4th.  It has been almost four months...way too long.

I am so happy with how my runs have gone this week.  After last weeks painful 9 miler, I could have thrown in the towel.  I could have thought... I will never be as fast as my friends (ok this is still true-I have some really fast friends!), I will never be back to my old running self, I will never be able to run long again, etc.  But I just kept my head up and kept trying.

To recap:

Sunday:  I ran 3 miles while my sister rode her bike with Nathan and Baylor (my nephew) in the bike carrier.  My overall pace was just under 8 minutes with my last mile coming in at 7:39.  I can't even remember the last time I saw the 7:30s on my garmin.

Monday:  3 mile run with Jacque.  It has been way too long since we have run together.  Jacque definitely talks the most out of any of my running partners.  I love it!  I mean she can tell long detailed stories and never gets out of breath.  I need to learn this trick.  Overall pace 8:14

Tuesday:  4.5 mile early run with Lisa and Alyssa.  This is the best I felt on a run with them in a long time.  I am so lucky to have such great running partners literally a few doors down from me.  Overall pace 8:09?  Not exactly sure because my garmin was acting up.

Wednesday:  rest

Thursday:  Best run of the week!  10 miles with Christy.  I felt so bad after last weeks run and was hoping this one would go better.  I really felt great except for the last 1-2 miles but even so our pace did not slow down much.  I don't think Christy ever slows down, she just keeps getting faster every mile.  Overall pace was 8:16.  My last mile was over one minute faster than my last mile last week.

Why do I think this week was so much better?
1.  It was 20 degrees cooler.  I know the heat slows everybody down but I feel like it affects me more than the average person.
2.  No Monday spin class.  My legs are usually sore after this work out.  I think that extra rest really helped.

Next week is spring break.  The kids are so excited!  We are headed to Chicago for a few days and then going to spend Easter in LaPorte.  I hope we all survive:)

Just Kidding

My legs are not back.  Not even close...

I ran a painfully hard 9 miles today.  I think you can call it running.

I have a lot of excuses why it was so hard:

1.  It was warm out.  76 degrees at the finish.  My body does not do well in the heat.
2.  I have not cut back on my spinning enough.  I tried on Monday to take it easy but the instructed totally called me out.  Her exact words, "Why waste your time being here if you are not going to push yourself."  I am pretty sure she was talking to me.  So I did push myself.
3.  I haven't ran 9 miles since December 4.  That's a long time off.

I know I should be thankful:
Thankful I can run 9 miles, thankful my foot is healed, thankful I can run at all!

But...
I am feeling pretty defeated about the run.  I honestly would have walked the last 2 miles if I had not been running with Christy.  She was a huge support for me today!  I did not stop because of her and although I may have clocked in my slowest mile ever the last mile, I did not walk.

I feel like my body has forgotten how to run long distances.  I have blisters all over my feet, my stomach is upset, and I have lost all endurance.  Remember body we LOVE to run?!  The longer the better, right?!

That is the thing about running though... It is not easy!  Somedays you may feel great but a lot of runs are just plain hard.

Don't worry though I will get back out there.

Happy Running!

Welcome Back Legs

Today I had my first sub 8 minute run since my injury.  It was so nice to look at my garmin and see the 7:40s.

I need these legs to continue to hold up because I have a 9 mile run scheduled for this week.  Even though my speed is slowly coming back, my endurance is taking a little longer.  Maybe one reason for this is because I am doing my long runs a little too fast.  I have been running with my good friend, Christy, and we are both horrible pacers.  We both say that we are going to take it easy and our first mile usually comes in just over an 8 minute pace (which is NOT easy for me).  I am usually struggling pretty bad at the end of our runs.

Also I think I am going to have to cut back on my spin classes.  I usually go to 2-3 classes/week and need to cut it down to 1-2, I think.  My legs are just tired all the time.  I want to be able to run on fresh legs sometime.  Swimming is not a problem.  I have only made it to the pool 2 times since I started running again.

I don't want to complain at all though.  I am just so happy that I can run again and increasing the miles is the best!

Besides some wonderful running the weekend, I also enjoyed this amazing weather with the family.

We went to the zoo today with my mom and my sister's family and we all had a great time.  Nathan was excitingly screaming at most of the animals.  It was hilarious!

Owen, Jackson and Kaitlyn looking at the seal lions.

Kaitlyn, Nathan, Jackson, Owen, Me, Katie and Kennedy on the train at the zoo.

Ryan trying to get a picture with everyone looking.

Random picture of Jackson-He is so proud of his hair

Have a great week!

My First Practice Triathlon/Kids Update

Last week I did  my own sprint triathlon at the gym.  It made me realize I have many things to practice before my first "real" triathlon.

The Swim:  I jumped in the pool and swam 500 meters.  My pool now has a big huge digital clock on the wall so I can see how slow I am really going.  I would say I am not the slowest swimmer ever anymore but not fast at all.  I think I need to take a swim lesson or two and learn how to swim more efficiently.

I ran into a friend from medical school and chatted for a few minutes before swimming another 500 meters.

Transition 1:  This is the part that I need to work on the most.  I can not change into my bike/running clothes quickly when I am still wet.  I am sure it was a funny picture.

The Bike:  I biked on the spin bike for 20 minutes.  I played with resistance to make it seem like I was going up hills.  I think this will be the easiest part of a race, but I really have no idea.  I do know that I can't wait to be on a road bike soon!

Transition 2:  Change bike shoes to running shoes.  Not as difficult as the first transition.

The Run:  Good news is that my legs didn't feel like jello.  But I was just tired.  I only brought water to drink and normally I can do an hour work out without fuel.  However when I put different events together I think it takes more out of me.  Next time I will have gatorade.  I ran 3 miles and they went by pretty fast.  Still my favorite thing to do!!!!

Probably not at all what a real triathlon feels like but gets me excited for this summer.  I have a lot to work on but I do think I have the endurance to finish a sprint triathlon.

Kids update:

Kaitlyn had her Level 4 State gymnastic meet this weekend and did awesome!  She scored her first 9 on bars (9.05).  I think bars will end up being her best event with how strong she is.  She scored a 8.925 on beam.  Beam is usually her best event but she had a little mess up on her dismount so she didn't get as high of score as she could have.  She scored a 8.925 on vault.  She was upset that she didn't get a 9 on this event but it is hard for her to get much power on the spring board since she is such a tiny girl.  She scored a 8.75 on floor which she was the most proud of.  Floor is definitely her weakest event but she has worked really hard and was so happy with her score.  Her overall score was 35.7.  So proud of her!

The best news is is that her team, Interactive Academy, won second place!  I am glad that the competition season is over for awhile.  Now she can just have fun at the gym and work on her level 5 skills.

Can you tell Kaitlyn is a little excited that they won second place?

Jackson will start soccer season soon.  I just love to watch him play.  He has his daddy's speed and is so darn cute out there.

No sports for Nathan yet.  But we finally took down his crib and put him in a big boy bed.  This makes me so sad.  Will we ever put the crib up again?  I just want Nathan to stay a baby for a little longer.

I hope everyone has a great week!

Working on Goal #1 for the Year

Goal #1 for the year is to stay injury free.  I think this was smart of me to make this my #1 goal so if I ever feel like being lazy I can just say I am working on my first goal.

But honestly this is the hard for me.  I want to run everyday.  It takes more willpower for me to take a day off then to get out the door for a run.  (I wish I had this problem with eating too.  Unfortunately I may just have eaten a huge bag of starbursts. Didn't really want to eat the fruit instead.)

I have missed 2 of my scheduled runs this week.  I have been having some different pain and I thought that maybe my body needs some extra rest.

So you would think that I would have tons of energy now and feel great.  No...I am now sick.  I am sure it is a virus of some kind.

Why does this happen?  Many runners say that they tend to get sick during their taper weeks.  Well I have a theory...

I can't use the disclaimer that I am not a medical professional and have no training in medicine.  Because I am a medical professional and do have a lot of medical training.  But this is still my opinion.  There has been no scientific study on this (or at least I have never seen one).

I think running or any sort of exercise boosts the immune system ( ok this has been studied) but  when you take time off not only does your body take a nap but so does your immune system (my opinion).  Well probably your B and T cells don't really take a nap but maybe they are not on high alert and so those little viruses that are all around sneak in while everybody is resting.  Then the virus attacks and your body gets sick.

So basically what I am saying is that I am sick and will now have to take more time off.  But I am still working on goal #1.

No Excuses

This was a busy week.  I guess every week seems busy, but this one did especially.  Why?  Well Ryan was  on a ski trip with his friends for the week.  Lucky guy, right?

Ryan on his way to Vail.

So I was a single, working mom of 3 this week.

I could have used this excuse to tell myself that I didn't have time to work out.  But I didn't.  I needed something to keep me sane.

Monday: The kids didn't have school today.  So I dragged them to the gym with me.  Our gym daycare is awesome.  They have a three story play gym, basketball courts, computers, tons of kid's toys, and a TV that they play a movie on.  They may protest on the way there but they have so much fun.  I did my spin class with my favorite instructor, Sharon.  Followed by a 30 minute core workout.  This class always makes me sore.

Tuesday:  30 minute run on the treadmill before the kids woke up.  The treadmill almost sucks all the fun out of running but I had not choice today.

Wednesday:  Rest.  Sort of... Still had to work, take Kaitlyn to gymnastics (Kaitlyn has gymnastics 4 days/week so there is a lot of driving), and take care of the all the other things that need to get done on a daily basis.

Thursday:  25 minute run on the gym treadmill.  Running on the treadmill at the gym seems so much easier than at home.  I was feeling great today and my legs loved it too!  I did not want to swim but I made myself because I haven't gotten in the pool in over 2 weeks.  If I still want to do a triathlon this summer, I need to keep some sort of swimming base.  I swam 1500 yards total.

Friday:  Spin class before work.  I pushed myself really hard again on the spin bike.  Since I can't push myself running yet,(Still on my return to running after a stress fracture plan)  At least I can really work hard on the spin bike.

Saturday:  Another spin class at the gym.  The kids were not happy that I made them wake up early on a weekend, but once again they had fun at the gym too.  I thought I would take it easy in this class but not possible with Sharon yelling things like...Come on give me 2 more minutes, come on you are an athlete, come on you don't want to have any regrets in life, etc etc...

Sunday: 30 minute Treadmill run at home.  Not the funnest or easiest, but still felt good once I finished.

I really want to increase my running mileage.  Running to me does not feel like working out.  But I will keep following my sad little training plan.  Hey next week I get to run 4 miles in a row!

I hope everyone had a good week!  Remember... No excuses.