In addition to putting the finishing touches to the deck with a few steps, we also re-did the walkway – that same weekend!  (I really know how to put my Dad to work!) In true, renovation fashion, I took a couple ‘before’ pictures of the walkway:

BEFORE:

The plan was to pull up the existing walkway, and the grass near the deck to extend the walkway to the deck.  As pretty as Avery’s artwork looks on the existing walkway…

…it was pretty shabby looking.  The plan was to replace it using a mold that you pour concrete into – the same one my parents had used at their house years ago:

Love the cobblestone look!  And it’s pretty cheap too.  I measured the area and predicted we could do it in $80:

We had hoped the walkway was just a thin layer of asphalt, but we should have known better – as there is always something unexpected when we take on a project.  This time, it was 4 inch deep concrete under the thin layer of asphalt – eek!

But I shouldn’t be surprised… there was layers of flooring on top of each other and layers of paint in the kitchen when we demo’d it for renovation… so I should have expected the previous owner to have taken the easy route with this as well and just built over what was there.

The plan was to hit the asphalt with a sledge hammer and it would break apart – well with a little elbow grease and wedging a shovel under the concrete, we were able to break it up enough to put it in a pile on the sidewalk… and oh man was it a big pile…

Thankfully, our friend offered to take it off our hands – otherwise I would have had to pay to take it to the dump station in town… then we would have REALLY been over budget!

We spent the first couple hours of the morning digging up the old walkway – Avery even joined in to help!

And yes, I was working too… I just can’t manage to take a picture of myself while working… being in two places at once is still something I’m trying to master.

Did I mention my Dad turned 50 this year?  Let’s just say he was a wee bit sore the next day…. but hey, I’m just keeping him young, right?!

After we tore up the old walkway, we moved onto the grassy area leading to the deck.  We mapped out an idea of where we’d put the pathway mold and dug up the grass in that area.  We set it aside to reuse in another part of the yard where an old stump was and needed grass – nothing goes to waste at our house!

Good thing we started early too, because it was a hot day (I had a sunburn to prove it).  By late morning we had it all dug up …

Next, we made a trip to Lowes to grab (haha… grab is not the term to use for this as I was keeling over trying to lift these 80lb bags) concrete and sand – like, 30 bags total! We would need more sand than expected because we had to fill in the deep walkway because of the thick concrete (#overbudget).

When we returned home, with the truck bed practically scraping the road from the weight of the bags (not really, but man was it heavy!), it was time to put down the sand where the old walkway was.  Before we got down to business, a wheel barrow race was in order:

Avery was such a little helper! Although most of the day he played a much better ‘supervisor’, in his new ‘cars’ camping chair and cooled off with a special drink from Dunks.

Onto the sand…. we broke open the bags and filled in the deep trench where the old walkway was.

The sand would make the area high enough so when we put the walkway over it, it would be the same height as the neighboring grass.

With the sand layed out, it was time to start pouring the concrete into the mold.  We started near the deck where the layout of the mold would be most difficult because it was on an angle.

We broke a bag of concrete in the wheel barrow and added water.

We mixed the water with concrete until it was at the right consistancy – wet, but not too runny.

Then we used a shovel to transfer the concrete mix to the mold.

After we put the concrete in the molds, I used a putty knife to smooth and even out the concrete within the mold.  That’s me leaning over doing that… which was the perfect position for a sunburn… ouch.

Then we would wait (aka work on the stair project) about 10-15 minutes before I’d go back and smooth it out one last time.  This would allow the water to rise up and all the larger chunks of concrete to settle at the bottom.  If we didn’t do this, our rocks would looks rocky with small rocks… not a look I liked.  So we spent the time smoothing it out.

Then we’d wait another 10-20 minutes, lift the mold up, move it next to the stones we just made, and do it all over again.  Sometimes the corner of the rocks would fall apart when we lifted the mold, but I did some sculpting with wet hands and fixed it.

After hour of work… we made some progress…

And while we were busily working.. Avery was having a grand old time playing outside….

He played in his sandbox… had a picnic with Grammy and planted some flowers…

At the end of the day, the walkway looked a little something like this:

Yay!  So excited with how it looks!  We even did hand & footprints on a few of the rocks:

We waited for it to dry overnight.  Sunday morning we filled in the spaces between the ‘rocks’ with sand.

We spread the sand around with a shovel and watered it to help it settle.

The sand added such a nice finishing touch.

The next weekend, Vinay mowed the yard (did you notice how rediculous it was in the earlier pictures!?) and added walkway lights to finish the project…

AFTER:

We are thrilled with how it turned out… well Vinay wasn’t pleased when I under calculated the budget… it turned out being a $149 project… but hey, it looks like a $500 project!  Well worth the $ and the effort!

Our backyard has come so far from what it looked like 2 years ago when we bought the house:

Backyard 2011:

Backyard 2013:

Yay!  Project accomplished.  Onto the next one…

What Spring/Summer projects are you working on around the house?  Check out our list of projects to see what we have planned next!

Saturday Avery, Grammy, and I visited a friend of mine who just had a baby!  I’ve known Kate since grade school.  We’ve kept in touch over the years but I hadn’t seen her since my baby shower for Avery.  Well, now she got to meet Avery and I got to meet her little boy, Owen (awesome name… I almost used it for Avery!)

I held him first – and he was so tiny!!!  He was making those sweet baby noises and squirming around – so adorable!  My Mom was happy to hold him and even feed him his bottle too!

Avery wasn’t quite sure about him… and was very shy in the beginning of our visit… but he did sit next to Grammy for a quick picture!

Avery finally warmed up when Kate’s daughter Hannah came in from a bike ride.  Hannah wanted to show Avery her room and Avery was thrilled to play with her.

He would have stayed all morning playing with her if I had let him… but all good things must come to an end, so after an hour or so of visiting, we headed out and I can’t wait to visit Kate again… or have Grammy babysit all three kiddos so Kate and I can take a break out together!

After our visit, Avery passed out in the car and we did some searching at a few stores for a play driving wheel attachment – no luck.  I might have to buy one online and wait.  Avery’s been obsessed with ‘driving’ lately… wanting to sit in the front seat of the car whenever we go for a ride – like when I snagged this pic Friday morning before dropping Avery at daycare…

Avery woke up at our last store (Buttered Noodles) and picked out a John Deer Tractor and Dump Truck set… oh and the store had these adorable mini shopping carts for kids – Avery was tearing down the aisles, having a ball pushing it! I completely forgot to take a picture – so that just means we’ll have to go back some time…

Then it was off to the mall to meet Aunt Sarah and Grampy for lunch… and after we ate, Avery took a ride in a bus…

And in a car…

And he didn’t quite like the simulator ride, even when Aunt Sarah joined him…

Back at the house, Avery and Grampy played outside while Grammy prepped a yummy dinner with the lasagna pan I got her for her birthday (Thanks for the suggestion Rachel!)

From left to right = veggie, alfrado & broccoli, & traditional

While Mom was prepping the food – I was putting the finishing touches on stuff for the shower on Sunday (I’m a bridesmaid in my cousin’s wedding in August and her bridal shower was Sunday).  I made a trivia game… so of course I had to have matching pencils…

When we popped outside to see what Grampy, Aunt Sarah, and Avery were up to… this is what we found!

No worries… Aunt Sarah is an expert tree climber and Avery was only up there a second.  And the only reason he was up there was because Aunt Sarah climbed up the tree while Avery was playing in the wood pile and he saw here and wanted up!  So after that, Avery helped Grampy stack some wood…

Avery just loves getting dirty.  He even pet a slug!  It was totally not on purpose.  We thought he was whining because he got sticky fingers from the sap on the wood, but nope, when we looked closer it was because he found a slug – ew!

Our friend Mina came over (with her dog, Ellie) and we all devoured the lasagna – yum!  And although it was still a little misty from days of rain… we had a campfire and Avery explored our old tree house from when Sarah and I were kids…

And you can’t have a campfire without s’mores… so Avery tried his first one….

Although hesitant at first… he loved it!  And don’t you just love his mini camping chair?!  Fully equipped with a cup holder!

And I have no idea what prompted this… but Avery and Fraiser took a ride in the wagon Grampy had sitting around… and man did Avery love it….

… we even took Avery down the road on a walk on Sunday in it!  So much fun!

Sunday was the big day for the shower.  I headed over early to help setup…

The other girls did a great job picking such a nice venue, planning the decorations, and my trivia game fit right in!

Grammy and Aunt Sarah joined us (along with all the other ladies) and Grampy was on Avery duty.  We had a nice time.  It was great to see my aunts and cousins and  the bride to be seemed to really enjoy the party… even though I made her disclose the color of her panties for the trivia game… hehe.

After the shower, Avery and I stuck around until after dinner, so I could plan Avery’s bedtime with when I drove back home.  It made for a long day, but it was so worth it so I could attend the shower and we had some fun when the sun finally came out Sunday afternoon…

My cousins son (Avery’s second cousin) came over to play too… bubbles, kickball, cornhole… it was a fun afternoon.  Grampy cooked some yummy food on the grill to fill our bellies and at 6:30PM we hit the road. I wasn’t even tired on the ride home and thankfully there was no rain!  Yay to a fun weekend…and it’s already Wednesday so another fun weekend is around the corner!

In the shape of a hair cut!!!  Now, his first haircut was just to trim up a bit.. and he’s had another one of those since then.  But this time… we went a little extreme….

Before:

After:

Yay!  Nice and cool!  I’m sure it’ll quickly grow into a nice Buzz cut…but for now, it’s all shaved off!!!

Did you or your kids have any extreme haircuts?  Share!  Pictures too if you have them on your blog!

So let’s join the link up party with Lauren, by sharing what Avery’s been up to this week…

Mr. World Traveler

For the long weekend, we visited our friends in Baltimore.  It was our first time taking Avery on a plane as a toddler.  Man, is it a different adventure than with a baby.  First of all, babies sleep on planes – Toddlers play on planes.  This kid decided to sleep on the ride to the airport and wake up as we walked thru security.  So, he was VERY awake for the flight.  He wanted to run around and wave to everyone – so when we had to be seated for take off, Avery flipped out!  He does not like to sit still.  But once we were in the air, he was thrilled to color and play peek a boo with the couple behind us.

Mr. Outdoors

As we’ve shared.. we’ve been busy in the yard these past couple weeks.  So, we have a few extra tools laying around.. and that makes them fair game for Avery!  He also digs shovels and rakes.  He has his own wheel barrow too… but obviously prefers the real one. And as if playing in his sand box, coloring with chalk, or playing with yard tools isn’t enough, he can always water the yard…which he learned how to do yesterday.

Mr. Hott Stuff

After the rainy start to the week, you wouldn’t think we’d have 90 degree weather – think again!  93+ yesterday.  So clothing was VERY optional this week.  Oh and yes, Avery poured out his Cheerios onto the couch… slick move kiddo.  He did eat them all though… so you can’t really blame him, right?

Mr. Hott Rod

Avery loves cars.  Matchbox cars in the sand box.  Loud cars that pass the house.  And he LOVES to drive.  When we get to daycare in the morning – always a wee bit early, somebody hops in the drivers seat and takes a spin.

4 months to go before the big “2″… and yes, his birthday party is already in the works….

How far ahead do you start planning birthday parties?

I thought making this chart would be fun, but when I realized how far off I am from where I should be (the orange line is where I should be if I want to pay off these loans by my 30th birthday), it makes me a little weary – this is starting to look impossible again  But less debt is better than more debt…. so I’ll keep chugging along.  The good news is, this month I came SOOOOO close to getting the loan debt UNDER $37K.  Close, but no cigar.  Here’s a recap on my numbers this month:

• Starting Balance: $38,812.46 (5/1/13)
• End Balance: $37,085.35  (5/30/13)
• Paid Towards Loans: $1082.62
• Interest Paid: $169.81 
• Principle Paid: $912.81

This month I hit the mark on all my goals (woo-hoo!)

May Goals

1. Pay (at least) $634 extra to Sallie Mae Loan 1-07 ($1901.70) CHECK!
2. Pay minimum on other Sallie Mae Loans CHECK!
3. $40 bi weekly to VSAC Loans CHECK!

I sent a whopping $650 check (eek!) to SM which took a nice chunk out of the next loan I’m trying to pay off by July.  If I do that for two more months, I’ll reach my goal!!  I paid the minimums on all the other loans, so they’re slowing widdling down too.  And I’m least concerned about my VSAC loans that have lower interest rates and technically I don’t have to start paying them off until 2014…so I’d say I’m ahead of the game.  So, the plan next month is pretty much just do the same thing:

June Goals

1. Pay (at least) $640 extra to Sallie Mae Loan 1-07 ($1258.80) 
2. Pay minimum on other Sallie Mae Loans 
3. $40 bi weekly to VSAC Loans

Thinking even further ahead (which I am guilty of doing ALL the time – just ask my husband! I know, it gets very annoying – so feel free to just look at the pictures and move onto a post with cute pictures of Avery – but this does help me stay on track, so I’ll keep going…), the next loan on the list (highest interest loans, lowest debt one first) is over $3k.  If I can keep up this $650 a month extra payment, I can get that one paid off in December, which I had planned on… so that’s good.

Short Term Goals  Pay off this loans in this order (deadline)

• 1-08 @ 6.55% (February ’13): $0
• 1-07 @ 6.55% (April Jul ’13): $1258.80
• 1-05 @ 6.55% (Dec ’13): $3118.94
• 1-06 @ 6.55% (2014): $5016.81

But I also have to consider that every time I pay off a loan, the minimum payment to SM every month, goes down, so I can use that extra money to add towards my extra payment…which seems to be happening because I started doing $500/mo extra and we’re well over that now.  So, looking into the details, I pay $42/mo minimum I pay towards loan 1-07, so when that’s gone, maybe I can bump up the extra payment to $700/mo…which means I can definetly pay the next loan off mid-December.  Woo hoo!

And, we’ll stop there… because if we look into the next loan after that…. I’m gonna freak out because that’s a towering $5K right now… Eek!  Baby steps.  One loan at a time…

How do you keep finances & debt from stressing you out? Making a plan and following up on it every month helps keep me in line – just like my 5K training…which I have slacked off with in the past two weeks.  My next 5K is in July, so I’m not motivated to train with it that far away… need to fess up in another post…

Are you totally bored of me blabbing about my student loans every month?  If not, read these and then I’m sure you will be…

• 42K x 30 = Baby #2?
• Month 1 Update
• Month 2 Update
• Month 3 Update
• Month 4 Update
• Month 5 Update
• Month 6 Update

Think back…way back (a whole year ago to be exact) when we took our backyard from this:

To this…

A year ago Memorial Day weekend we built our deck.  It took two days and lots of friends and family to make it happen.  But we had one minor detail we couldn’t squeeze in that weekend – a project that was never finished until this past weekend…almost a year later!

If you take a look at the plans we made when we pulled a permit, we had also planned to put in steps on the backside of the stoop, leading down to the low deck.

Since we hadn’t put those in yet, we’ve had to walk down onto the grass to get onto the deck.  Well, after a year of that, it was getting very a little annoying.  So since we had to have the deck inspected within a year of pulling the permit anyways, it was about time to finish it up!

BEFORE:

As always, I had to call in recruits: Grammy = Avery sitter, Grampy = Expert Handyman.  They were also there for another project… but you’ll have to wait for details on that later! Grampy brought all the supplies and tools- he was under strict orders to have it cost no more than $56 (our budget from our GIANT tax refund).  I took measurements and relayed them to Grampy who precut all the pieces in VT and brought them here to assemble.

First order of business: cut off the railing (to reuse later) where the steps would be.

With a quick few cuts with the saw, the railing was off!

And man, did it open up our tiny little stoop!  It felt so much bigger already, even without the stairs put in yet.

Grampy placed some precut pieces for the TWO, yes count them – two whopping steps and nailed them into the deck – he’ll later lay the wood over them to create the steps.  But first, he had to cut a hole for the post for the railing…

He cut a square into the deck, and put the post down into it, and wa-la!  (He makes it look so easy!)

Next, it was onto the steps – he used pre-cut pieces of wood that he notched out to fit around the railing.  It didn’t take long for Avery to jump in and help out…

After cajoling Avery away from the power tools, Grampy put the wood on the risers and steps – and with that, we had our stairs!

An angled cut to the post – so we can rebuild the railing down the side of the steps with pieces from the railing we removed.

I used a hammer to knock the rail and balusters apart and removed all the nails – and Grampy cut them down to make a new railing!

And then…it was DONE!

AFTER:

Pretty snazzy, right?!  I’m working on sanding down the railing so I can repaint it… then it’ll really be done!

Oh and if you take a peak in the background of the last two pictures, you can see what else we were working on… details later on that!

Is a project every really done?  I always have some detail or finishing touches on projects and rooms in the house that I keep adding to the honey-do list.  Am I the only crazy person doing this or do you find that a project is really ‘never finished’ ?

…. full details to come next week!  We’re off to Baltimore for the long weekend to visit friends… which just means I’ll have even more pictures to share when we come back!

Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

***join the H54F link up party with Lauren***

How exciting!  And what’s even more exciting is that I’m finding time to respond to the award nomination in less than a month!  Well, I have lots of award business to attend to, so without further a-do…

Liebster Award Rules

1. The Liebster Award is given by bloggers to bloggers who have 200-300 followers (FYI we’re quickly approaching 200, eek!, so let’s enjoy this award while we can!)
2. Each blogger should post 11 random facts about themselves.
3. Each blogger should answer the 11 questions given to you.
4. Choose 11 new bloggers to pass the award on to and link them in your post.
5. Create 11 new questions for the chosen bloggers.
6. Go back to their page and tell them about the award.
7. No tag backs.

Who came up with ’11′ for every category?  Crazyness.  I’m going to stick to my ’5′ like last time.  11 is overkill IMO… I barely have time to post a couple times a week – give a working Momma a break!

#1: Check, we have 166 amazing followers!

#2: 11 5 Random Facts about Moi:

• I speak french – enough to get by a basic conversation and thanks to my HS French teacher I can tell you to ‘shut up’ too
• I get sick if I eat ice cream – a recent development and man does it stink cuz I love ice cream!
• I think have a habit of naming my children after TV show characters – I spent a good deal of this weekend trying to remember the name of the character who loves the character ‘Avery’ on Grey’s Anatomy… you know just in case it sounds good with Avery.  BTW, it was ‘April’…not sure I like that name.
• I can’t stand having dirty feet.  I have to wear socks in the house because if dirt sticks to the bottom of my feet I get soooo irritated!
• I have a super-sore throat.  I don’t think it’s allergies because I spent the weekend outside building a new walkway (pictures to come!)… maybe the dry air?

(I tried not to repeat ones I shared on the past award and other blog awards)

#3:  11 Questions from Kaela:

1. What is your favorite book? The Notebook

2. What is your dream job? A SAHM & PT Interior Designer

3. Who inspires you? My Mom, Marathon Runners, people doing random acts of kindness

4. If you had to describe yourself in one word, what would it be? well-rounded

5. Cabin or beach house? Why? Beach house… Avery loves the beach and we love going as a family.

6. If you could learn to do anything, what would it be? Control Time… wouldn’t that be nice?!  But something actually possible… I’d love to learn sign language, fluently.

7. What does your name mean? I had to look this up.  I know Meghan orignated from the name ‘Margaret’.. but it also means ‘pearl’… and I love pearls!

8. What is your best memory? There are too many to choose from!  I can’t pick one over the others.

9. What is one chore you absolutely hate doing? I hated dishes growing up, but with a dishwasher now it’s bearable.  I hate cleaning the bathroom now…

10. If you were immortal for a day, what would you do? Get rid of my fear of heights by skydiving, bungy jumping, or maybe just jumping off a really tall building!

11. Why do you write? To keep in touch with family and friends… and it’ll be awesome to look back at everything – like a virtual family diary.

#4.  11 5 Blogs I Nominate: 

• Arryn Vogan Pottery
• Raising Chaos
• Today i
• The Delightful Dash
• Fit Momma Boom

#5.  11 5 New Questions for the nominees 

• When is your favorite time of day to blog?
• If your life was made into a book, what would the title be?
• What is your favorite sound?
• What blog is most inspiring to you?
• Where were you born?

#6.  Go back to their page and tell them about the award. (check!)

Happy Blogging! xo

When we got back from the race on Saturday, the rain was holding off, so Avery spent some time outside with Grampy.  Us ‘womenfolk’ stayed inside to prep dinner.  Before I knew it, I could hear the lawnmower doing laps around the house.  Avery loves it.  Then, they were onto bubbles…

Avery loves bubbles… almost as much as our dog, Mickey, growing up.  He used to chase them with his mouth wide open and chomp on every bubble he caught.  Luckily, Avery doesn’t eat them too…

We took a walk around the yard… first Avery played with Dad’s compost bucket, made our way around the back yard where Dad told me about pollinating his apple trees by using a q-tip (cool idea!), checked out the wood shed where Fraiser sniffed around for a mouse and Avery oogled at the snowblower (any car/truck/machine on wheels excites this kid…such a boy!). Avery saw the giant wood pile and just had to climb it…

…oh and so did Fraiser – thanks for the photo bomb, dog.  And this was the best of the many pictures I took…because all the other ones had the dogs butt….

Then Grampy took Avery for a boat ride…

Yeah… kinda missing the water part of a boat ride, but it was good practice for this summer!

Then we were all off for a walk (as if running/walking the 5K wasn’t enough exercise for the day).  We hoped it would calm Avery down so he could take a nap before our guests came over for dinner that night.  Avery loves walks in the stroller and especially with the dogs because he loves to watch them… or walk them himself!

On our walk we had an impromptu photo session – and thanks to instagram, the pics came out pretty awesome…

After all that excitement, Avery was out for a two-hour nap.  We all showered, prepped dinner, and Sarah and I ran out for supplies (beer, cheese, a lime, Mother’s Day hanging flower baskets for Mom, and I grabbed a VT souvinier for Avery’s pen pal in Texas).

Avery woke up rested for an afternoon of fun.  While we waited for the guest to arrive, there were more bubbles…(and dogs bombing my pictures)

Some truck fixin’..

Safety first!

We had the cornhole game setup (my Dad makes these, aren’t they awesome?!), but Avery had a new way of playing…

The things that amuse this kid! Then it was off to join Grampy in the swing…

And take a break to watch Elle-Moo (Avery’s finally got past his trouble gettings stuck on the “L” and now says ‘elmo’… except the ‘mo’ comes out at ‘moo!’) with Grammy

Then the guest arrived, and aside from my graceful moment where I tipped over the picnic table (sorry Nic and Mina!), it was a pretty fun night of grilled food, Sarah and I won corn hole, Avery even took a few bites of veggies thanks to help from Uncle Mike…

Avery ate a whole hot dog, and ended the night with a bath tended to by Mina!

Avery went down pretty well, especially since he had a pacifier tonight…Friday night when we got in, I couldn’t find his pacifier and it’s not like at home when we can drive 1 mile down the road to Walmart, so we cried stuck it out and Avery eventually went down.  So after our race Saturday, we picked up a pacifier at the pharmacy in town and when I gave it to Avery that night, man was he out like a light.

A bon fire, some yummy lemon squares (Mina, send me that recipe!), some fun doctor talk with Nic (he delivers babies!), and I called it a night by 9/930… I was so tired I couldn’t even read 3 pages in my book before I passed out.

Sunday was Mother’s Day!  Grammy had got her flowers the day before, and Avery gave her a homemade card.  Then he helped her make crust for the kiesh we brought to my grandparents for breakfast.

While we were all busy in the kitchen, there was a bang on the window – a bird had flown into it (something that’s happened many times before growing up). So we went outside to investigate…

Avery was hesitant, but he did touch it once!  The  poor thing was so stunned, but he was fine. Then we spent some time at my grandparents house and Avery played with the ORIGINAL Little People farm set…

Avery got tired pretty quickly and we hit the road before noon.  He passed out and slept all the way to Mass.  We made a pit stop for a snack, and then hit the road again…

When we got home, Mommy got some flowers, a card, and a running shirt from her two boys!  So sweet!

Avery was excited to help unpack from the weekend…

And spend some time with Daddy…

Whew… enough pictures?!  Remind me not to take so many pictures this weekend… oh yeah that’s not gonna happened because my parents are coming down for a couple home renovation projects… so yeah, even more pictures to come next week!

Happy Friday!

I had to adjust my original training schedule to fit our busy lives, but I feel like I got in enough running to work up to the big race. I did slacked off the last week of training because I went to the Redsox game on Tuesday and had to pack on Thursday.  Excuses, excuses.  I was still pumped to run!

On Friday, Avery and I trekked up to Vermont for the weekend to run the race with my family.  We had checked the weather and knew we were in for a wet one.  So when we woke up on Saturday morning, it was no surprise that it was still raining.  Irritating, yes, but it wasn’t going to stop us!  We geared up early and drove to the town school where we met up with my Aunt and we all took a bus to the course start.  It was Avery’s first bus ride and he was shy….

…as he usually is around new people (a full bus of runners) but he had an even more skeptical look on his face when the bus started moving – like, hey people, why am I not strapped into that horrendous car seat?  He quickly realized it was a good thing and had a blast on the bus ride.

When we arrived, there was a fair share of people gathered, and man did they do it up good… a tent with a band playing, a post race tent with drinks, food, and massages!  The rain had stopped, and even the port-o-poties weren’t gross.  The start line was outside the JMMY Center - A youth center all the race proceeds go to.  My sister, Mom, and I signed up to run the 5K (There was also a 10K and half marathon) while my Dad, Avery, and Aunt were signed up as walkers.

As with all small towns, we ran into a bunch of people we knew.  My Dad’s boss was running the 10K, his wife was running the 5K, a few others we knew were walking it, and a guy from my high school class, Joey, was trying to PR for the 5K.  It was a much more exciting and fun atmosphere compared to my first 5k, where we didn’t know anyone else racing (although I found out later someone I did know ran it).

All pumped up, we headed to the start line.  There must have been 200-300 runners & walkers – I couldn’t even see Dad behind us with the stroller.  So exciting!  And before we knew it, we were off!  The first 1/2 mile was on pavement and a slight downhill.  Mom, Sarah, and I started off together but I knew Sarah was itching to pull away so I gave her the nod and she powered off – so jealous of those long legs!  Mom and I stuck together.  Oh and did I mention, it started raining.  Ugh.  Had to wipe my eyes of a bit, and luckily it let up almost as fast as it came on.   I could hear a group behind my say their pace was a 9:21, so I kept it steady, but didn’t go crazy fast, knowing there were probably hills up ahead.

And man were there hills… the first one wasn’t too bad, but the second huge one, oh my.  My mom was up ahead and had stopped to walk.  I caught up with her and walked, chatted a bit about how much we LOVE hills (not) and we picked it back up again.  But what goes up, must come down, and on the downhill, we could see the turn around point – which I think is weird because I’d rather run a loop.  Anyways, we could see it and almost at the bottom of the hill, the lead runner passed us going the other direction – and it was Joey. Yay!  But there was a girl right behind him, so we cheered him on and high five’d the people passing us that we knew.

At the turn around point, there was a water station and I apparently missed the BIG SIGN that said 5K runners turn around here – hey, it was confusing cuz the 10k and marathon runners were going past it.  After a few people yelled at me, I got the hint and turned around… to go back UP the darn hill.  Close to the top, we walked again for a few seconds and then picked it back up when we saw Dad, Aunt Denise and Avery at the top coming our way.  Avery was passed out, big surprise.

We pushed along for the next mile, up and down those annoying hills on dirt!  Oh how I wish it had been pavement… with the rain and dirt, I felt like I had zero traction!  But the last 1/2 mile or more was on pavement, and a very slight uphill.  We chugged along.  I tried getting Mom to pick up the pace, “you see that truck parked up there? when we get to it, we’ll pick up the pace.”  but Mom wasn’t buying it, so I tried again…  ”you see that truck up there? we’re going to pass it!”  I could hear the band playing and felt the energy surge… although we were exhausted, we rounded the corner before the last stretch and ran faster.  I challenged Mom to beat her and we sprinted to the end-finishing at the same time.  They grabbed our bib numbers and the first ones to greet us were boy scouts handing us our medals.  Medals?!  I get a medal?!  How cool is that?!

We walked around to cool off and quickly found Sarah.  Then we made our way over to the  finish line to cheer on the runners coming in.  We didn’t know any of them, but it was fun being their motivation to pick up the pace before finishing.  We kept our eyes out for my Dad’s boss, doing the 10K and when he came down the last stretch, Sarah and I ran on either side of him to finish the race.  Dad, Aunt Denise, and a sleeping Avery strolled in and just like last race, Avery woke up just as they finished.

We stuck around for waters and fruit – Avery especially enjoyed the oranges, awaiting the race results.  They posted a board with our bib numbers and times.  Joey had come in 2nd (he said that girl passed him on the last stretch that he had to stop and walk a bit) with like 23 minutes or something, crazy! Sarah had come in under 30 minutes and 3rd in her age group!  Mom and I had a time of 32:09, yay!  That’s like 10:30 miles, eek!  I could have swore it was going to be a slow time because of the hills, but I guess you have to factor in how fast you go down those same hills.  Either way, it was better than my first 5K by 2+ minutes, yay!  So excited and proud of myself (and everyone else that ran!)

What we didn’t know until later that night, thanks to a phone call from Dad’s boss’s wife… apparently Dad had got 3rd in his age group too!  And he walked!  Such a fun race.  We have to find another one to do together… preferably a flatter course!

And more later this week about the rest of our weekend in VT… which includes Avery petting a bird, playing in a wood pile, and taking the dogs for a walk….

Do you prefer to run on pavement or dirt?