Things you deal with when you have a boy

So my son who is 8, is thinking he'd like to try football this fall and lacrosse this spring.  We've been putting off taking him to football even though my husband was a pretty talented football player when he was younger, because we didn't want his little head getting banged around.  But now he's asked to play and well, if he wants to play that instead of soccer, why shouldn't he?

Anyway, lacrosse is starting in a few weeks and a flyer was sent out to let you know what your kid needs if he's going to play.

Equipment that needs to be purchased: (helmet and uniform are provided)
stick, mouth guard, cleats, gloves, shoulder pads, elbow pads, black shorts and a cup.

What?  Wait.  A cup?

I've only had girls thus far and no cups have been needed in soccer so I have no idea what that entails.

Do nuggets that small really need a cup?  Do they even make them that small?  They must on both parts because it's part of the equipment list.

So being the savvy mom that I am, I head to google for the answers.  I type in Cups for Boys.  Once I get past the Barney and Thomas the Train drinking cups, I find a site called nuttybuddy.com.

I think this is what I'm looking for!  I knew google would have the answers!

I head to this site to search for my son's cup.  I click the "sizes" tab to see what's available for 8 year olds. This is what comes up.

I'm sorry, but is this not one of the funniest things you have seen??  Detailed drawings of said cups with dimensions.  Is this something I really need to measure??  Oh my.

But the names!  Oh, the names are best.  Mongo, Hog, Trophy, Boss and Hammer.  I cannot stop laughing.  No wonder all boys/men have such a thing for their 'little man'.  The Trophy??  Really?  My son's size, based on weight (which I assume is body weight and not ball weight...), would be The Hammer.  This makes me giggle.

Perhaps this is a task best left to the husband.  He played football and baseball, I'm going to assume he knows where to get and how to work a cup.

Time to punt.  pun totally intended

To the moms:  have you had to purchase a cup for your son?  Tell me about it.  Please.  Because you know this task will still end up being something the woman has to do.

To the dads or men in general--HELP!

5 Miles for Friday

So let me just give you a rundown of the weather we have had this week in Maine.  Snowstorm Saturday into Sunday, sun on Monday in the 30's, Tues another snow storm, Wed cloudy but no snow, Thursday spring-like with temps in the 40's and sun and today snow in the morning and then pouring rain with lightening with temps in the 40's again.

Bi-polar much,  Mother Nature?

Since we were having down pours and the roads were still a shitty, slushy mess from the snow this morning, running outside was not going to happen.  Today is actually my swim day but everyone had dentist appointments this afternoon so the swim didn't happen.

Instead I headed to the indoor track at the Y (which I am so so so happy and lucky that we have) to run.  Manimal and the husband came too and practiced some basketball.

My friend, Jen, from Running with the Girls, just happened to be hosting a virtual run to help raise money for the Tri for a Cure.  It's a local sprint triathlon just for women that raises a bunch of money for cancer.  Here's the link to her page and donation page if you want to participate and/or donate to this great cause.

She was coupling this virtual run and giveaway with her birthday which is coming up.  The suggested distance was 3.7 miles for her 37th birthday.  3.7 was a weird number for me so I went for the more regular (and my favorite number!) 5 for my milage today.

I also got to try out my other new pair of Brooks--the Pure Connects.  They were very minimalist looking so I wasn't sure I was going to like them, but there was plenty of cushioning in the arch area.  They felt like what the Newtons look like they would feel like.  It made it easy to have a fore-foot strike rather than a heel strike.  In fact, it felt weird to heel strike in these shoes.

I had a bit of a tweak in my left knee right at the beginning of the run and I wasn't sure if it was the shoes or just a random tweak that would go away.  It bothered for just around a lap or two and then went away for good.  The rest of the miles were easy and comfortable.

so so lucky to have this track to use

The verdict on the sneakers--not sure if I would use these for longer runs since they force the fore-foot strike more so than my other sneakers, but I am going to keep them.  They are comfortable, didn't cause any hot spots and I like the color.  Plus, they were on sale and I had a discount code so I got them for $50.  You can't beat running sneakers for $50.  Well, free ones would be better but that's not happening.

Tomorrow is an early wake up call for Manimal's basketball games at 8:00.  Ugh.  At a town 90 minutes away.  We need to leave the house earlier than we do on a work day.  The things we do for these damn kids!  lol

Is Mother Nature a bipolar bitch where you live?

Head over to Jen's blog and help her out with a donation.  She has some great prizes too.

Choices Have Consequences

I have been debating whether to post about this or not, but since it's important to me and it's pretty much over now, I'm going to.  If you live in my area, you probably know what this is all about already so you can just skip along if you don't what to hear what I have to say about it.

Let me give some background information regarding our area and our state.  Basketball is very popular in Maine and every year there is a large state-wide tournament where teams compete for the state championship.  It is a big deal to be ranked high enough to make the tournament but to win Eastern Maine or Western Maine and be able to compete for the State is every basketball player's dream.

Last year our boys basketball team won Western Maine and lost in the State game.  They were ranked number 2 for the tournament and were capable of winning Western Maine again and possibly the State.  This well written article sums up what happened and expresses my feelings regarding the situation even better than I could say them myself.  It made the front page of the largest paper in Maine today.

Click HERE.  Take a minute to read it.  If you have teens, have them read it.

I had tears after reading this article.  One bad choice affecting so many.  Our area is small.  3000 people at most.  We know everyone.  I mean everyone.  You know the kids, their parents, and even their grandparents.

What was not said in the article was the other story about a freshman player called up to play varsity was playing for his sister.  His sister, who just 2 days after this whole incident, was critically injured in a car accident.  His sister, who is still in this hospital because of it.

He was the high scorer.

She goes to a different high school and her friends from that school, about 10-12 of them, were there at this game, cheering for her brother.  The one who was playing that game for her.

So much emotion for everyone at that game.  Myself included.

My kids were not playing, they aren't old enough.  This didn't involve my family in any way, but yet I had so many tears to myself about this game.  For so many reasons.

~For the boys who weren't there, who made the wrong decision.  I'm sure this is a choice that they will remember for the rest of their lives.  I never got to play on a team that had a chance to make States.  Most kids don't.  It takes a lot of years of work to get there and you can't go back for a redo.

~For the senior on the team left to play with freshmen and sophomores, in his last high school game ever.  He can't come back and try again next year.  THIS was his year.

~For the freshman, in the middle of family turmoil, comes and plays a fantastic game for his sister.


This town cares about those in it.  The people in this town get sneakers for kids when they don't have them for basketball or cleats for outdoor sports.  A girl loses a field hockey stick and a brand new one appears in the school office for her the next week.  A family loses everything in a fire and in less than 24 hours $10,000 has been raised for them.   A teen is critically injured in a car accident and 2 teen boys take over her father's plowing jobs so he can stay with her at the hospital.  And another $10,000 is raised in 2 days for that family of the car accident victim just 1 week after the fire happened for the other family.


You see, kids in my town, we care very deeply about what happens to you.  You may not think so, but people you may not even take a second look at, old and young, are watching you, living dreams through you, celebrating with you, and even feeling heartache when you fail.

How to Feel Happy

Today I was tired.  I haven't been sleeping well the last few nights.  Not sure if it's the full moon, my mind racing, husband's snoring or what it was but 5-6 not-so-quality hours of sleep just aren't enough for me.

My kids were loud and mouthy this morning.  Talking back, asking for stuff.  Sounding more and more spoiled with every word that came out of their mouths.  Husband was in a mood too which didn't make mine any better.  We had just gotten even more snow, on top the snow we had gotten 2 days ago.  Cause we need more. NOT.  I am so done with this winter….

BUT~ the sun was shining brightly.  And felt warm!  It was 25* out and the snow was so sparkly and bright white and even kinda pretty in the sun.

I needed this day.  And I needed that time to myself.  Outside in the fresh air and sun.  Oxygen and Vitamin D.   Who needs Wellbutrin when you have those?  I think we could solve most of the world's problems if we all just went for a run.

Word.

5 miles of therapy.  Happiness that doesn't come in a pill.  Free for the taking and available for anyone.

Just look at that snow and sun!

I never pray for snowstorms but they are cool to run in (or after).

this never gets old

And just like that, everything was better.  Kids were quiet and happy when I got home, husband was good and most importantly, I was good.

The laundry still sits waiting to be folded, there are dishes that need washing and I am still super tired but one 50 minute run changed my whole outlook on the day.

January Recap

I'm finally getting around to getting my January recap done.  I have just been busy with work and life and haven't really had much time to sit down and write a post.

Miles Run--47 miles.   Just short of the 50.  If there had been one more day in January, I would have made it.  Or if I had gotten just one more run in.  Oh well.  I should pay more attention to that as the month comes to a close.

Minutes on spin bike--225 minutes.  The 5:30 am class is just not working out for me.  Read:  I cannot get my ass out of bed at that hour.  I'm starting to do a little better get the spin minutes in on the days I don't have tennis but it's really a challenge to make myself go when there isn't a class to keep me accountable.  I'm not sure how to make this better.

Swim--8000 yds.  Fairly consistent on the once a week thing.

Tennis--6 hours

Races--none but did get to meet a pretty cool guy doing a pretty cool thing.  Gary Allen near the beginning of his run 500 miles to raise money for the Wounded Warrior Project.

Things I'm Loving

~Salted Carmel Gu--I guess I'm late to the party on this one, but that stuff is GOOD!
~This song:

I'm sorry, but who doesn't love minions??  

~Tweets from the Olympics in Sochi with the hashtag #sochiproblems.  Seriously, if you are not following this, you should be.  It's worth at least 3 or 4 giant laughs every day.   Here's a few images from those tweets.

Second funniest hashtag?  #costaseye  Especially funny to the eye doctor.  I hope he has someone to help him with that. If no, I'd be happy to take a quick flight out to Russia to bring him some proper medication.  Jeez.

eww!

~Dairy Queen is open again!  So happy.  New favorite treat is peanut buster parfait but instead of the peanuts, I have them use peanut butter sauce.  It's like a melted peanut butter cup on ice cream.

~These girls:

I feel like I've found some running friends that I fit in with.  If not speed-wise (cause they are all so much faster than I), at least personality-wise.  I just met two of them IRL but feel like they are old friends already.  Can one of you please move to Boothbay and start doing triathlons?


2014 is off to a very good start and I can't wait to see what the rest of the year brings.

Mid Winter Classic 10 Miler Race Report

Who runs 10 miles, outside, in the middle of winter?  A bunch of crazy Maine people, that's who.  This is one of the bigger races in Maine and certainly the biggest one that happens in the dead of winter.  It was capped at 1000 runners this year and that is quite a few people in one spot in our tiny little Maine towns.  All the fast folks in Maine and New England seem to come out for this one, so there is not a snowballs chance in hell that I could get an age group award here.

But that's ok.  That's not why I wanted to do this race.  Last year, I had a not so good race that included misery, lots of walking, some swearing and freezing my ass off.  I knew I had it in me to run a faster, better race.  Not to mention all the cool kids were going to be there.  My buddies Danielle, Kristal and new friend IRL Sarah and her exclusive dating parter and fiancé Eric were all going to be running it this year.  Also all the Running with the Girls girls--Jen, Carrie and Jill were going too.  My friend from high school Todd and now new IRL friend Jamie and Andy were also coming.  So fun!!

So basically, I couldn't wait for this race!  Now all of these people are WAY faster than me so I had a feeling I was going to be running alone because everyone was going for a PR today.  Well, except super-speedy-even-when-not-racing-Sarah.  bitch.  j/k love you sarah.  She is just plain fast even when she's slow.

Per usual, I got there super early because I was driving from far away and they wanted you to carpool because of the limited parking.  But I had no one to carpool with so I needed to bring my 8 passenger van with one person in it there early to make sure I had a place to park.  Phew.  I went in and got my race shirt and bib.  Number 85!  My favorite number is 5 and my second favorite number is 3, but 8 is like two 3's together so it's like having my two favorite numbers.  Anyway, I liked my number.

The shirt is pretty sweet too.  I like orange.

I sat around a little waiting for everyone to show up.  Danielle was being super-over-achiever-girl and running 2 miles before the race and 3 after.  She asked if I wanted to join, but I politely declined.  After a trip to the potty I found this group and manage to get a pre-race photo.   Courtesy of one of the volunteer race photographers David Colby.

Sarah, me, Eric, Jen, Carrie, Jill and Stacy

aka Middleaged runner, average girl doing average things, exclusive dating parter to middle-aged runner, running with the girls and maine mom on the run.  If you do the blog thing.  

Danielle arrived and we chatted a bit before the race started.  Just like at the Maine Half Marathon, Kristal was no where to be found.  Seriously, girl, why can't we ever find you earlier than 3 minutes before the race??  We managed to locate her via some texts because her phone wasn't working.  I called her twice and for some reason she couldn't hear me.  Turns out it was because her headphone were plugged in….   Um.  yah.  No, she isn't blonde.  lol

A little pre race photo in which everyone looks great but me, and we were off!

I clearly, have not mastered the taking of the selfie.

They warned us of a cannon going off and said it was going to be really loud but all I hear was GO!  So, we went.  Why in the world was I standing near the front of the pack is beyond me.  I was clearly not where I should have been.  I tried to get out of everyone's way as they passed by me.  Danielle and Kristal were gone.  I did my own thing and somehow found Sarah who was supposedly "running slow" today.  I managed to keep up with her   Read: slow her down  for about a mile and then I just dropped back so she could go on ahead.  She's too friggin fast.

I think around Mile 1 or 2?  Just before or after Sarah.

Anyone care to analyze that crazy ass foot strike?  what the.

I fumbled with my music and got that going and just tried to get in a zone.  Miles 3 then 4 went by pretty easily.  There were hills early on, but honestly, they weren't that bad.  I was planning on taking a gel at Mile 5 and wanted to wait until the water station since I didn't bring water with me.  I have never used Gu but I got some in a secret santa pack and didn't have anything else so it was going to have to work.

Mile 5 water station was right at the top of a little crest so I quickly ripped open my Gu and started to eat? suck?  whatever you do with Gu.  Let me tell you, Salted Caramel Gu is the shit!  That stuff is so tasty.  I would put it on ice cream.  Or waffles.  Maybe even dip my Oreos in it.  It was that good.  I was so happy that it didn't make me gag cause I didn't know what I would do for fuel then.  I did walk through the water station so I could get the Gu and water down without drowning.

I was beginning to feel a little tired but the Gu seemed to perk me up a bit.  Strangely enough, the song Wagon Wheel got me going too.  Not a very inspiring song but the tempo was just right for me and I may have played it more than once.  I kept thinking of myself like a wheel and just rolling along.  So stupid.  But it worked.

I was so thankful to see Mile Marker 8.  Only two more to go.  And I remembered this spot as the place where I needed to stop and walk last year.  Not happening this year.   I ran right past that stupid ice cream shop.  My phone dings and to tell me I have a text message.  I'm hoping it's Danielle telling me she got her PR or my kids saying "go mom!  You rock!".  This is what I got.

at least she has manners

I totally inspire my kids.

Mile 9.  One more to go.  I was tired but I knew my legs could go faster and now was the time.  I picked up speed and passed a few people.  I knew I was going to beat my time from last year and I wanted to run fast to the finish.

this is my 'hurry up you're almost done' face

a little more normal foot strike too.

I turned to corner in to the school and its all down hill from there.  It's a longer than you think it's going to be because they have you run out back behind the school, but there were lots of people cheering as you went by and I knew I was going to be done soon.  I saw the time 1:31:xx and was pretty happy.  I managed to cut 5 minutes off my time from last year.  No walking.  No swearing.  No freezing.

Because all my friends are way faster than me, they were all in the cafeteria having snacks and changing.  Danielle, Kristal and I all had PRs!  Yay us.

A great day was had by all.

Me and all the fast girls.

Not sure if this is before or after, but my friends and the best photo bomb ever!  Look carefully…..  creepy man, Andy, in the back!!  lol

Final time for me 1:31:58.  Woot!  Last year was 1:37:xx so I took 5+ minutes off my time.  Very happy with myself.  And if don't think that this blog name is appropriate for me, well let me show you how true that is.

Average, average, average.  Middle, middle, middle.  483 out of 780 or right in the middle.  206 female out of 414 again, middle.  39 out of 68 in age group, still in the damn middle.

Not slow, not fast.  Just average.

An average girl doing average things.

Thank you to the volunteers at the Mid Winter Classic who make the race possible.  Thank you to my faster friends who inspire me to be better and let me run with their speedy selves.  Thank you to Mother Nature for a perfect day for running and no precipitation.  All hail the mighty Mother Nature who rules our running lives.