That is the question....

More than ever, I have this debate with myself whether or not I want kids. A lot of my friends have kids and they seem to enjoy them... but they also seemed to enjoy kids prior to having kids...

I like kids... in small doses....

I like kids... when they are quiet...

I like kids... when they go home...

I keep telling myself that if I have kids, it won't be for another two years or so... which seems to be a far enough out in the distance that maybe I'll like kids then... I do think raising kids will be fun b/c it will be a challenge... but I'm not sure I have the patience, stamina, energy, patience, kindness, thoughtfulness, did i say patience yet? for a kid...

But in my mental dilemma, I enjoy the company of two kids on a weekly basis. Most of the times I look at Nate and say, "if I have a kid, are they going to be like this?" and he says, "yes, all 5 year olds are like this"... Oh dear... so then I ask my mom, "mom, what was I like when I was 5?". Because if my parents had 5 kids and they survived, I must have been a breeze to deal with b/c if I wasn't easy to deal with, then they would've been nuts while I was growing up.... Oh dear....

So, it'll still be 2 years until I think about having a kid... Time to go buy some stock in Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Trotting for Tukey

I have been running more and more with my two little spastic puppies and decided to run another 5k this year. I ran one in the beginning of September, and it was really fun so I thought I'd sign up for another. I had convinced Nate to run with me. We were going to have a non-stop action turkey day of running, surfing and eating. However, two Sundays ago, Nate decided to put his foot in front of someone kicking a soccer ball, sprained his ankle badly and is black and blue from the ankle to his little toes. So, he got out of running the 5k with me. Unfortunately for him, the Atlantic Ocean has turned into a large lake in the New England region so I got out of surfing with him!

There were 1,500 people signed up for the Seacoast Region Turkey Trot. It was pretty cool to see so many people out running on Thanksgiving day. It was in the high 20s in the morning so it was rather chilly! I think it might be the coldest weather I have run in so far.We started on an island off of Portsmouth, headed over a bridge and then ran through the city a bit. Nate rode his bike b/c his ankle is so bad and carried all my warm gear that I stripped off 3 seconds before running. He had to wait for all the people to get over the bridge before he could start riding. I didn't see him until at least 1/2 way through the race.

Since it was my second 5k, I was a little more excited about how fast I could go. It definitely was apparent with my splits. I went out WAYYY TOOOOO fast and my first mile was 7:08, the next mile was 7:35 and the last mile was 7:41. Since last week, it was the first time I had paced under 8 minutes, I was psyched to be running fast, but when I heard my first mile pace of 7:17, the only thing I could think was, 'oh dear.... what did you do to yourself!' My overall time was 23.19 which I am really, really happy with. I was 10th in my age group and 167th overall!! For my second 5k, I'll take that!!




Here are some pictures of my run:

 

Waiting to start

And we're off...

 

Making strides...

 

Heading back to towards the river and dying....

 

It's so disheartening when you get passed and you can't do anything about it!! 

 

Finishing!!! 

I convinced my friend from work, Anna, to participate in the 5k too. It was her first 5k and she had only been running for about a month. She pushed a stroller with two youngens and I'm soo proud of her for finishing. Here are a few pics of her and her two year old daughter ZJ running:

 

ZJ posing for the camera as a runner! 

 

ZJ pulling up her pants and putting her feet to the ground.

 

Anna, her husband Michael and ZJ right after they finished!! Congrats Anna on finishing your first 5k!! 

New Appreciation

I have a whole new appreciation of parents, pre-school teachers, janitors or anyone who has to clean up vomit on a regular basis!

I went mountain biking with my friend yesterday and I thought everything was all good as we headed home. My friend looked at Oakley and was like, 'hmmmm.. Oakley looks like she got into something'. This is no big deal, Oakley ALWAYS gets into something. Then we looked at Scout, and he had a little funk on his nose. Again, no big deal. Scout tends to get into stuff too. I got the dogs in the car, started heading home and pulled onto the highway. Then, not a big deal turned into a bigger deal. Scout threw up. I looked back and it was a funky color, but in doggie fashion, Scout started eating it up. Again... no big deal... THEN... the smell... it started taking over my car... and it wasn't your normal smell... it was BAD!!!!! When my friend pointed out that Oakley had something on her head, she thought that it might've been poop. When the smell wafted up from the back of the car... It was MOST DEFINITELY POOP!!! I drove home for a good 45 minutes with my hood over my nose so that I didn't have to smell it. He ended up throwing another time in my car and another time on the rug in the family room!!!

This morning, I got to clean up all that... (I was not going to skip my date last night to clean up vomit, but I did put some carpet cleaner on it to nutralize the smell... a bit...). It was ALL over the carpet in the back of my Vue. It was all over the spare wheel and underneath the spare! It was FANTASTIC!!!

But it's clean now!! and I'm SOOOO happy that it's over!! And I will do whatever I can to keep Scout from eating random stuff from now on!!!

Chocura, Chocura

Nate & I went hiking with our friends, Brian & Cassie, on Sunday October 24. We hiked Mount Chocura, 3,490 feet. The day started chilly and was sprinkling a little and ended up being just plain cold and icy on the top. Cassie is 27 weeks prego and a total champ. It was Scout's first hiking experience and he ended up making it back in the car to go home which to me marks a successful first hike. I spent more time on my bum on the way down, and thankfully, no injuries! Here are some pics of the day:

Nater on the way up to the top

Proof that we made it to the peak. :-)

Brian & Cassie & Emma at the top

Cassie, 27 weeks prego at the top.

Nate & I

Oakley showing no fear scaling the rocks. It's amazing how much she has changed since we got Scout. She showed no fear the the whole time.

Scout has definitely lived up to his name and the bell has eased my mind a lot in the last few months!!

All of the rest of the pictures from the day are here.

Check that off the bucket list

We did it!! We accomplished 100+ miles on a road bike in the Berkshire mountains! The ride was called the Great River Ride and here is what the critics say: "Gorgeous but gruelling" is Bicycling's description for what we believe is the most challenging century in New England. It was hard as heck and I'm positive that next year if someone asks me to do it again, I'll say, 'No, thank you!'.

Here is the map of first two breaks on the ride. My phone died after the second break. There were two more breaks... and 66 miles to go. Rumor has it, that the total elevation gain was about 10,000 feet. No pictures were taken, unfortunately. The camera got left in the car. All, I gotta say that it was hard as heck... oh, I said that already!!

And now for my shout outs: 

First, I'd like to thank Erin for hooking us up with biking gear!! I didn't exactly look like a super biker but I at least had the gear that I could look like a biker! :-)

Next, I'd like to thank the makers of Gu! I'm positive I would not have finished it without Gu every 12-15 miles.

Also, I'd like to the dude who heckled me in the first 10 miles. That hill was a beast and I wasn't ready for it or in the right gear. Your heckling helped me get up the rest of the hill and I made sure to keep my eye on you. And yes, not only did I finish it, I finished it BEFORE you! So, kiss off!!!

Finally, I'd like to thank the Nater Potater!! Thank you for sticking with me and encouraging me, but not like that one guy who was yelling at his girlfriend to keep pushing up the hill as she was dragging him and two of his friends up a hill or that lady who yelled at her husband for taking too long at the VERY FIRST snack break. Thank you for hanging with me when I was steadily crawling up the hill at 4 mph or not making fun of me when I needed a break to just breath on the hills. You are the best riding partner out there! XOXOXOXO

Name that Emotion!!

*This was meant to be silly... although, when one is going through the rollar coaster, do not mention the game or what may cause the game, unless you want a fist to the face... which again, may not happen depending on one's mood 10 seconds prior to the comment or 10 seconds after the comment. It could always come back and bite you in the bum!

It's that time again to play, "Name that Emotion". In this game, not only will you need to name the emotion, you need to name the source of the emotion... Alright, let's start the game... First scenario:  You asked if I wanted a banana and I stormed off, what was that emotion and what was the source???? Your first answer... "You have no idea" is completely wrong... The answer was "emotion: pissed; source: you are offering me a banana because you think I'm fat and didn't want to offer me the candy bar that you were eating".

Second scenario: "You gave me socks that were too big and I cried. Why?"... "No idea!"... Correct Answer: "emotion: sad; source: remember that time... sniff... sniff... when you said I had cankles... sniff... four years ago... waaaaaa..."

Third scenario: "We went mountain biking and you took me on a really hard trail. I'm a mess. What am I mad at?" Answer: "Oh, this is a tricky one... and very dependent on the where we are on the trail and what is happening... At the beginning, I'm mad that you took me on such a hard trail, but there are moments of "why does he hate me so much to take me on a trail so that I never want to mountain bike again?" Then there is a few moments of "why did he convince me to buy such an expensive bike if he's going to take me on a trail that I'm going to walk?" mixed in with "I'm just going to sell my stupid bike". Next, there may be a few of "why won't he talk to me? He really must not like me anymore. He takes me on a trail that I can't handle and now he won't talk to me. UGH!!" Then finally, "I SUCK AT MOUNTAIN BIKING!! Why do I SUCK at mountain biking? Why can't I do anything? Why won't he swim with so that I can be better at something then he is? Why do I suck at EVERYTHING?"

*Disclaimer -- some of these scenarios are made up for comedic purposes but they are not THAT far from the truth... unfortunately... for everyone around me!

"I don't even feel like I rode today" - Nate Schontag

Nate and I signed up for a century ride in March... When did we start "training" for it?? Oh... one week ago... That's when I found out that Nate was NOT going to let me bail from it! This century ride is in the Berkshires which are a set of mountains in Massachusetts. Last year, we signed up for the "flattest" century ride... We didn't end up doing the ride because it was in Maryland, it was an 10 drive to ride our bikes for 6+ hours and then drive home. Oh, and it was going to rain. Oh, and I had fallen off my bike a few weeks before and hurt my hip really bad. This year, we didn't sign up for the flattest century ride. Quite the opposite actually. We signed up for the "most gorgeous, yet grueling" century ride. And we have 3 weeks to "train" for it... FANTASTIC PLANNING!

Back to our training. I knew that we needed to ride a few long rides before we attempt 100 miles, so I figured, oh yes, let's ride around the largest lake in NH. It'll be pretty. It might be a bit hilly. I unfortunately did not use my GPS thing on my phone, so I don't have a complete elevation gain... but I did find this site that does have the elevation gain... We only rode 60 miles and there are three different places from that site that we didn't follow, but for the most part... Yup, we rode that!!!

Here are a few of my favorite examples of elevation gain:

and my favorite...

I will not claim to have rode up that first hill non-stop!! I did ride it! I did stop...  A LOT!!! But I did ride it!!

I'll give it a few days before I say whether or not this ride was fun!! It was hard!! My muscles are sore! I was really uncomfortable for the last 20 or so miles. Not uncomfortable enough to quit, but definitely uncomfortable to complain about it... Not that does any good!!!

Some of my accomplishments... Slowest riding ever... I think it was right after our first stop. Of course, we stopped at the bottom of hills and this hill we could not see as we were resting. But as I neared the top, I looked down and my speedometer said, 4.5 and my cadence was about 40. OUCH!!! Another accomplishment... fastest riding ever!! My speedometer clocked me at 39.7!! WAHOO!!! I was cruising!!! I'm pretty sure the speed limit was 45 mph so I unfortunately did not speed. Final accomplishment, I took a picture while riding!! I didn't make a phone call or facebook or anything like that, Carrie... :-D

And my lovely boy, what are his comments:

"I really don't even feel like I rode today."

"I think I'm going to go home and mow because I'm not that sore."

"That hill (as we just finished going up a hill) was really fun."

"Really? You are that tired?"

Thank goodness that he's soooo stinking cute!! He would've gotten beat!!!

Here are some of the pictures I took while I was riding:

Amanda enjoying the flat road on a beautiful day.

Nate, happy as a clam on our first break

Nate on one of our last few uphills

The lake! The only picture I was able to take of it and it was a little cock-eyed b/c there were lots of cracks that I was riding over...