Soccer: Spring 2012 - Andy

Dare I even bother?

This is the first in a two part series where I talk about the sports the kids did this spring. James did T-ball, Andy did soccer. I did try to get them to do the same sport. It didn't happen. But Andy really wanted to do soccer. Yes, I found it hard to believe as well, but I was hopefully since we had been through the first season learning about what soccer is about, this second season would be better.

Of course, I was wrong. So, here is a normal day. Andy and I get to soccer pretty early. On this particular day I was surprised when Andy voluntarily started dribbling. That was unsual.



Sitting in a chair eating a snack, that was more his speed:



Again, dribbling. Who is this kid?



Oh, picking grass. Now, that is Andy:



Eventually the other kids showed up, and the game got start.

A different thing with this season, I apparently embraced my destiny and volunteered to be assistant coach.



My dad was so proud:



The game starts and the kids start playing. Here was our ringer. He was amazing:



Girl ringer.



And me, I entertained the kids on the bench.



Meaning I was the bench. After "a quarter" we would switch the kids out. Honestly, I did such a good job with the kids, they often wanted to say with me. But we got them out there.



And I was still the bench:



Andy had a great run!



And finally the post game shaking of hands:



Good times. We will see if Andy and I do this again in the fall!

Mud Run 2012

I am a little hesitant to do this post because of the new blogger. I have a feeling it is just going to make me mad.

 At any rate... After 3 years to forget the pain of my previous mud run, I allowed myself to be talked into doing another one. My team consisted of Ms Juliet and Ms Becky, and Lee, who I can only describe as my step mentor. Our team name was "Let's do it for Britney, ya'll!" (as an aside, there was apparently a T-shirt contest which I wish I would have known about. We could have taken that theme all the way!) Here is the before picture:
 
And 3.5 miles and 35-40 obstacles later, the after:
 
Towards the end, the hardest obstacle is the 8ft wall. But it makes you believe in humanity again.
So, that was my mud run, blah blah blah, what I am really here to talk about is the KIDS mud run. I don't know how he does this, but James caught on that I was doing this "mud run" so of course, HE wanted to do a mud run. I can't even remember if I told him about the kids mud run...maybe I did...after many requests, and after the kids set up their own mud run in the house: ,
we went back to the site the day after to let the kids run the kids course. The before picture:
James in the first obstacle:
 
and the second:
 
Andy was less sure...
 
James was totally into it, even if certain obstacles took awhile to be okay with:
 
Oh yeah!
  Andy took his time and did his own thing:
  But Daddy sweetened the deal.
 
And all was well:
 
The after picture:
 

So, this is what I am saying, why are there no returns in my post. I like to spread things out. Ugh, well, at least you get to see the pictures!  **updated...is it fixed?

Easter 2012

Just FYI - I don't like to shop. And I don't have time to shop. For certain things, I mention it to someone (my mom) that I may need some Easter outfits for the boys and sometimes it happens. Here is an inpromptu photosession from Easter in their super cute outfits!

Also, FYI - I have given up on "look at the camera and smile" It just never happens. We went straight into the fake laugh:



Then to a pose:



And the hug:



We went to my parents house for Easter dinner. I believe the conversation went something like this "Mom, we will be in town for Easter. You are making Easter dinner and it is going to be lamb, right?" I was right. It turns out that I was making cheese cake for dessert, but I was cool with that. After dinner we played outside:









Again, the poses. The hug:



Smile and look at the camera. Ok, but only with Grandma!



And then the pirates attacked!



In the form of confetti filled eggs:







It was a great day!

Cooper River Bridge Run Race Report

We have this little race here in South Carolina. It is kind of a big deal. It starts in Mount Pleasant, goes over the Cooper River Bridge and ends in downtown Charleston. It is only a 10K, but is currently the 4th largest race in the country with over 40,000 racers. There are some good things about being in a big race like this, but there are some bad things as well.

Mark grew up in the area, he has never done the bridge run. Well, now he is a runner, and just had to do this race. After much, MUCH debate, information gathering, and route studying, we decided to drive and park by the start on the Mount Pleasant side.

Again, big race, so you have to get there early. The race was scheduled to start at 8am. They asked everyone to be lined up at the start line by 7am, and buses left the Charleston side by 6am. We left the in laws house at 5:50, stopped at Starbucks ;), drove to Mt. Pleasant, and found a place to park at a gas station at about 6:35. (It's cool, we filled up our Tahoe there before we left.) It was still dark when we got out of the car and started putting on our race numbers.



We had a relatively short walk to the end of the starting line giving the false impression that we parked close. It took awhile to get to the real starting line. Now, I signed up to run an "under 1 hour" 10K and ended up with a coveted RED number.



I could have gone to the C corral, but stayed in the G, cause I had great company:



Look at that belly:



About 7:30, we decided to make a run to the bathroom.



We finished in plenty of time and headed back to our corral and await the start.

And then we waited. And waited. Again, it was suppose to start at 8am. With our corrals, I really didn't expect to start until 8:30, but that passed and we never really knew what was going on. The announcers would say that a group was about to start and then they never did. Finally, at 9am, an hour late and 2 hours after we had arrived, and another trip to the bathroom, the race started and our group started at 9:30a. It was a ways to the start line. You don't even see it here:



Oh, there is is!



We finally start AND...it was the slowest start of a race that I have ever encountered. Pace was about 11-12 min/miles. I try to weave through the crowd to get ahead of the slow runners. But then up ahead, there was the bridge:



Getting closer to the bridge:



I think you can see of of these slow runners in some of these pictures. As we got closer to the bridge and had to merge so we slowed down again:



Then we hit the incline. Really, I didn't think it was bad:



Finally the top!



The downhill was nice.

I just want to take a moment to explain, I do not mean to complain about the slow runners and walkers. My complaint is that there were people in a faster corral then I was who obvious had no intention of running a step. And even though there was signs everywhere, kept walking on the left side instead of the right so I had to run around them.

About mile 4, the extra hour of heat and the hour later since I had eaten and drank water caught up with me. I didn't feel do good when I finished, but my time was 1:02:43.



Turned out to be just in time, because the race started running out of water after that. There was a nice post party celebration, but we had to take the shuttle back to get to our car. It was a school bus. Nice!



I made the comment somewhere that even though it was a 10K, it felt like a marathon since it just took so long. Well, look, I am going to lose a toenail, just like a marathon!



This is a race that was suppose to be super fun that many people do every year. I don't think we really got all that upset by the wait, but it was nice to read some validation about the announcers!

http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20120402/PC16/120409872

I thought the race was ok, but not sure if I would do it again. We will see.