Weekend Recap

Utica Boilermaker

15K

So Sunday was a the 15K race I have been prepping for, for the last couple of months. I wanted to run this race last year but was not really ready for it during the marathon training I was doing. We headed up there bright and early Sunday morning...4:30AM to be exact. It was a little rough on my system getting up that early but once we got to the buses that transported us to the start, I started calming down. Especially when we were talking to two really nice guys who were veterans at running this race.

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I was bused to the start with a bus load of other runners and once we got there I started walking with the flow of people. I really didn't know where I was suppose to be...I stopped and started stretching and met up with two nice younger girls. We had a good chat and admired the strange runners around us. There was an older man who was really, really tan in a teeny tiny red speedo. Seriously!!! Then there was a guy in a white suit that was long sleeved, full legs, and it covered his head and only left a small but of his face showing. Needless to say, it was totally weird and he had no underwear on...it was white too!!! Oh my YUCK!!!!

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The Governor of New York State...Patterson was there to give a speech. He is an avid runner himself who was suppose to run this race but injured himself. He gave us a pep talk and the national anthem played by bugle and then we were off. Or so I thought.

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I was almost 13 minutes from the start...that means once the gun/cannon went off I waited and waited and waited some more. Talk about psych you out!! We started off and it literally was shoulder to shoulder, elbow to elbow running. Not my idea of a good time but I tried to make the best of it. The first 3 miles went by in a blink of an eye. I ran past several old stomping grounds, one being Mohawk Valley Community College. Although I got to see my old dorm and the sports hall...I really didn't get a chance to see much else.

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The street were lined with spectators cheering us on. Kids with their hand out waiting for a high five, families watching, bands playing and all around good time being had by them. Lots of water and ice breaks which was wonderful. It was a cool 79 degrees on the start but the humidity was high. I kept sticking ice down my sports bra and running with it. I even ran with handfuls of ice to cool me down some.

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We headed up a long, long hill but with my hill training lately, it wasn't bad at all. It wound around a golf course and a lot of the golfers stopped to watch and cheer for us. After the hill it was a good mile and a half down hill which I put the petal to the metal and tried to make up some time. Why on earth do people who run these races...feel the need to walk all the way to the outside? I know, I may be wrong but come on folks, move it to the inside so we can use the outside for passing. I ended up running on grass, sidewalks and curbs. Not fun.

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But there were some great people handing out Popsicles at one of the miles and I ran with an orange one for about a half mile.

Todd and Graydon saw me at about mile 5-1/2 to mile 6 and I was feeling pretty good at this point.
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After that was a little rough. I drank too much water but I was soo hot and thirsty during the race that I really needed it. I felt a little sloshy...

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By mile 8 my legs were screaming from doing so much work to get around people. I stopped and stretched my right hamstring because it was starting to cramp up. After that I saw a girl down on the side of the road and the medics were on her. I really hope she was OK...so close to the finish. I kept it up with a couple of smaller stops at water stations to stretch the hamstring and then I saw mile 9. Thank God I thought...almost there. I started picking up my pace and sprinted in the finish. I love to do that because it makes me feel like I gave it my all.

So I crossed the finish line and walked over to a barrier to lean on and settle my heart rate. The medics were on me in a blink of an eye. I do have to say I was happy they were there but I was fine. I did have goosebumps which means I needed more hydration. They were worried about that and went running for water. I found some myself and guzzled 3/4 of the bottle in seconds.

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I started walking through the crowd, got my finishers pin and started looking for Todd and Graydon. I ran into a friend of Todd's and we chatted a bit. I started walking and walking and finally Graydon ran up to me. It was mad craziness crowd, with everyone looking for their family and friends. The beef I have with this is that the food and drinks were pretty far away from the finish line. I ended up having a sickish stomach so I ate some oranges and drank some gatorade. I even had a cup of beer which amazingly tasted wonderful. I looked for my friends Ashley and Stephen and my cousin Lindsey and her hubby John but I couldn't fins them anywhere. I met a local guy Chris who is an amazing runner...it was nice to finally put a face with the name.

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I just wanted to go home and shower so we bypassed the after party and found our car and headed home.

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All in all I wasn't pleased with my time, but with soooo many people running it (over 11,000) it was hard for me to get a good time. Maybe next year I'll fib a little on my time and get higher up in the crowd...closer to the start.

But I am happy I finished it and on to the next race...

Warrior Race in Windham, New York

3 miles...13 obstacles

Yipee!

Then on Saturday we went to Sackets Harbor of the
1812 Lacrosse Tournament.
It was a great time for the parents and kids a like.
Our boys did really well and I am proud of all of them.
Being the very first year Graydon has played lacrosse, he really has done well. He was invited by his league coach to come to the tournament and I think he was very happy with the invite.


Lots of people, great weather, great memories and fun times.

We ended up staying a little after to watch the older boys play and then ended up hitting the road for the 2 hour ride home. We needed to get back at a reasonable hour so I could eat and head to bed for the race the next day.

What a great team and coaches.

Great job everyone!!

So onto Friday...

I picked Graydons friend up early and we headed to Herkimer to go to the diamond mine. After getting there, paying for our digging rights, we watched a movie to see where we could find the diamonds.

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We headed out into the mine to "stake our claim". We started off on the wall but you really need some good mining tools for that one. So then onto the rocks. We started cracking some open and the only thing that we found were geode type rocks. Not great geodes but neat little things.

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There was a hole dug in the ground and I sent Alex in there to start looking while Graydon and I looked in another hole. We were sifting through the dirt looking for them. Alex found one and we didn't really find any. There was a woman up on the side of a huge dirt pile and she was finding them left and right. So I sent the boys up there to look while I stayed in the hole.

I just had a feeling about the hole and while sifting a shine caught my eye. Looky, looky what I found!!! It was a nice piece of rock!! I yelled up to the boys and they yelled back that they were finding some little ones.

I headed up there too and found some little ones as well....

So, after dusting ourselves off be took out goods to the store and had them appraised. Graydon's goods were $8.00, Alex's finds were $15.00 and mine were $25.00.

We kept out loot and headed home.
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What a busy, busy weekend we had but it was so much fun!!

The Boilermaker Weekend

UTICA

BOILERMAKER

15K

ROADRACE

SUNDAY, JULY 11th

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I'm off today with two boys in tow to head up to Utica for my race packet. This Sunday is the race that I have been prepping for and I am beginning to get sweaty palms. I know I can do it...but it is always pre-race jitters.

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Utica is where I attending college for a year before deciding that Advertising and Graphics was not for me. I was more of a fine arts person and should have headed in that direction. But I did enjoy exploring Utica when I was there and I look forward in seeing my old dorm and campus. I haven't been back in many years.

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So the kiddo and I and his friends are heading up north today. Our first stop is the Herkimer Diamond Mines so we can mine for our fortune. Hopefully the rain will hold off for us! After that we will head over to Utica for the Expo of shopping and race packet. I am looking forward in seeing some new running things and I hope they have some Vibrams there for me to try on. What are Vibrams??? A type of shoe that allows you to run barefoot it that makes sense. A couple of friends who are running in the race on Sunday have started using them and I want to see what all the hype is about. I'm not sure if this old girl can handle running barefoot, back in the day I could, so I just want to try them on.

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The photo above is all of us who are running in the race on Sunday. There are many more people from this area going but in this photo is...

Ashley of Neverhome Maker, me, my cousin Lindsey and her hubby John and Stephen of Neverhome Maker. Hopefully we will be able to find each other after the race to hang out and enjoy our stories of the race.

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Happy Friday all!!

Sometimes...

Sometimes I wish I would remember to take my camera every where I go. You never know what you may come across. This morning while heading out I was intrigued with all the beauty around me. The way the morning sun was sitting in the hot haze was simply beautiful.

Baby Flight

This week has been a little nutty with no school in session, my great aunt returning back to the hospital, training for a 15K race next Sunday, home life along with many other distractions.

This, though is a positive distraction that I have been watching for several weeks. In the shed off the back of the barn are barn swallows. There have been nests there for years, painted over and unoccupied...that is until this year. I noticed while feeding the goats that the swallows were flying over my head, protecting the nest but it wasn't until I found a little egg on the ground that they actually decided to call is home.

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I pitched a ladder and went up for a sky view of the nest and there were several eggs in there. I did leave the nest alone until the babies were bursting out of it.
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The above photo is of the parents circling in protest of my being there...

I just love these babies...I saw at least four crammed into this tiny nest.


As of yesterday...the babies took flight.
I hope that in the future they remember this place and lay more eggs.

Weekend Fun!

After a very full day of work on Friday I was treated to my very first time going to the Dick's Golf Open. We thought we would try and get there for a little golf but there were so many people there is was a little impossible to get to the green. We hung around near the food and beer tents for a while and saw some familiar faces and then headed to the 18th green for an incredible concert.
Rob Thomas of Matchbox 20 came to little old Binghamton to play for a huge crowd. They had predicted 8-10 thousand people and I believe that they were all there. I was having so much fun with Todd and friends and we had a pretty good place to stand but....I wanted to get a little closer. So I grabbed a girl that I know and pushed our way a little closer.

I had left my camera in the car because I didn't think you could bring it in but I did have my phone with my camera on it. These images although nothing what I would have like to have taken, are pretty good. I especially like this one and the very first one.

Here is Rob thanking his awesome band...I am so happy I went to this concert. His voice is amazing and truly an wonderful artist!

The following day was a graduation party that we were invited to for two really great kids. Dan lives across the street from us and we have known him since he was 3. Their moms had wanted a cake with their images on it sculpted out of clay playing one of their favorite things...the xbox. So Todd and I worked for a couple hours making these great little figures.

Notice Tyler on the left side of this cake...see his hat. They had described it to us because it is his favorite hat that he has lost. He was so thrilled when he saw it...

Dan on the left wears tye-dyes mostly and Tyler loves his red under armour shirt. Todd was so creative and made the Monster Energy drink cans, A&W soda bottle, the bowl of chips and the TVs. I'm so glad he helped me with all of it...he's a great partner and we both laughed a lot during this creation.

He are the real life Dan and Tyler!!!

Congratulations guys!!!

We are proud of you both!

Creative Thursday

I haven't really been able to focus on pottery lately because I have been extremely busy helping take care of my great aunt. She is very ill and in need of 24/7 care so while trying to hire a couple of extra hands, I have to fill in. After this post I will be heading out for a full day of helping her out. It has put quite a stiffle in my creativity but last night I went to pottery class with a positive attitude and produced the above image. It was a quiet night with very few people in there so I was able to concentrate and focus on things I wanted to make. In the middle of class a friend of mine came in and we had such good laughs. It was great to see her and catch up with her and her four children's lives, it is always an adventure (right Jenn). She always makes me laugh and believe me I needed it.

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I have a show coming up fast and furious at the end of next month so I need to get my tail in gear and really start pumping out some pottery. I have many, many ideas brewing, but it is just finding time right now to execute! It may come to be some early mornings and late nights for me.

Onto the above photo which by the way was a little bit of an undertaking. I have this garden behind my house that was there when we purchased it from my in-laws. She is a big time gardener and has some great plants in there. It was slightly unruly back in the day so the year after we were married...I tackled that garden and had it really looking spiffy. I had paths running through it, with great plants and even better mulching. Well over the years the kiddo came along, then life, then sports and then more life. Needless to say this poor garden has been neglected for years. What you don't see is behind this garden...this is what I am talking about. Behind those ugly arborvitae is the "GARDEN OF WEEDS". What a scary place to be...but I am determined to get the upper hand this year.

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Thus, the front of the garden which faces the backside of the house. I pulled almost everything out on the left side with the exception of a few lilies and I did leave the bleeding heart too. On the right side are some trillium's and lamium under the tree. I planted 5 new hostas, rebuilt the stone way framing the backside of this garden and mulched like crazy. I had some large rocks laying around so I used them to create a walkway to the mess. My thought was to put a gate at the end of the stone walkway but I like the looks of the bird bath in the opening.

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I will post some photos of the unruly mess when I can actually make my way in there. But for now I am viewing the peonies popping their heads over the weeds...

...sigh...

there is never enough time in the day!

Monday's Pets

As I was walking around the yard today I realized that I really needed to capture some animal moments...

The above photo is one of the two Rose-Breasted Grosbeaks that frequent the feeders. They are so pretty to watch...very graceful flying with their beautiful colors showing in full force.

Next onto the milkweed that is invading my yard. I don't have the heart to pull it out because the monarch butterflies love it and lay their eggs on it. It is almost time to start seeing them fluttering around the yard.

Now here is my buddy...

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I was in my garage tonight working on some pottery and he was hanging out under the feeder filling his cheeks. I went into the house to get my camera and perched myself on the driveway and waiting until he was comfortable with me being there so I could snap a few.

This one cracks me up with his little miffed mouth...

Now he finally was comfortable with me that he filled his cheeks not quite full.
I am determined to get this little one to eat from my hand before summer is over!