The St. Jude/Hwy. 350 Marathon

Jimmy, Julie, Clay, and Leanna all loaded up Friday just after lunch to travel on icy roads to Memphis for the St. Jude Marathon and Half Marathon.  (Leah and Sam stayed at Granmomma and Pop's house with Megan serving as chief babysitter!)  The weather forecast was dismal--freezing rain all day Friday, and then temperatures hovering in the twenties for that night.  I think the predicted high for race day, Saturday was 30 degrees.  

We were prepared.  We had all packed multiple layers to run the race in.  Then we all packed another set of multiple layers to check in a bag before the race in order to have dry clothes to put on after the race.  This was especially important for Julie and Clay who were running the half marathon.  They would be waiting at least 2 hours for me to finish the marathon.

We checked into our hotel and loaded up into the Mims's van to drive all together to the race expo.

 The whole crew (minus Kelly--taking the picture) at our hotel.

The expo is normally jam packed with people.  So many people, that I get a little bit claustrophobic.

Not this time.  The expo was like a ghost town.  We quickly got our race bibs and shirts, and then proceeded to explore the fairly empty expo booths.  It was strange.  Everyone was talking about the ice and the temperatures and the fact that Dallas had already cancelled their Saturday marathon earlier in the day.  The big question was, "Would the St. Jude Marathon be cancelled?"  Official race emails stated that the decision would be made no later than 5AM race morning.  

So we shopped and visited and took pictures--just like always.

 We are wearing Kenneth's Boston Log shirts.

 Leanna, Me, Lynn, and Julie

 Parker and Clay

 All of us!

We left the expo and then drove back to Southaven to the Olive Garden where we met some more friends who were staying at our hotel and also running the marathon.

 An icy tree outside the restaurant

 Our supper group

 The happy couple

After supper it was still pretty early (6:00), so we all went to Target.  You know we don't have a Target at home, so Lynn, Leanna, and I always like to visit a Target if there is one nearby.  We were all leisurely browsing and visiting with one another when suddenly all of our phones began to receive texts, group texts, and emails….

The St. Jude Marathon was cancelled.

At first we were in disbelief.  But there we were at 6:34 PM in Target receiving the news.  We all completely understood the reasons for calling off the race.  It was very cold.  It was potentially dangerous for 20,000 people to drive to downtown Memphis the next morning, and it was way too cold for the thousands of race day volunteers to be outside for many, many hours in that freezing cold weather.  We understood.  But, honestly we were disappointed.  We had trained so hard for this event.  This was to be Leanna's very first marathon, and I was sad for her.  

So for the next hour or so we just kept shopping in Target.

And then we had a Plan B.

A crazy, crazy, crazy Plan B.

Koach Williams was quickly organizing a group run for all St. Jude half and full marathon participants, along with any other crazy runners on Highway 350, Saturday morning at 10:00 AM.  Before our logic kicked in, Leanna, Jimmy, Julie, and Clay all said, Yes!  We are in!  (Crazy!)  Lynn has been suffering with a hip injury and Parker said no thank you to running in the cold, so they declined.  (Smart!).  But doesn't that sound like a perfectly sane idea?  Your official marathon is cancelled because of inclement weather--freezing temperatures and moderate wind--so you just plan to run 26.2 miles anyway.  It seemed like a good idea!  

So we drove to Corinth Saturday morning.  We arrived just before 10:00 AM.  We were all bundled up and had hot hands inside our gloves.  Julie and Clay were sporting surgical masks.  We all gathered for instructions from Koach and then the group picture.  We all wore our race bibs!  Leanna was still going to get to run her very first marathon!  The Highway 350 Marathon!  She and I were the only ones doing the marathon.  Nathan Hall had a 30 mile run planned, and so Jimmy's plan was going to run that distance with him.  (Jimmy ended up doing 27.9 miles…..he had a pretty awful running experience too!)  But Julie and Clay both set a PR! 

 Koach, giving us a pep talk and instructions.

 A group of CRAZY PEOPLE!

Well, it all started out fine.  We really were not that cold, believe it or not, but about 3 miles into it, Leanna and I began to question our sanity.  Were we really running a MARATHON on our least favorite running route??  She and I had run Hwy. 350 for two or three of our training runs, and every time we say, "WE ARE NEVER RUNNING 350 AGAIN!"  It is so hilly.  Not a lot of little up and down hills, but four or five long, long, long hills.  Brutal.  

But we hung in there.  After mile 4, we took a different path.  We turned on a road called Ridge Road, which had several rolling hills instead of the super long hills of 350.  This was a 5 mile detour that came out near the end of the 7.5 mile Hwy. 360 route.  We ran a mile or so of 350 to the next water stop (Koach put out water and Powerade at three different points on the course), and then ran back to Ridge Road.  

We were still ok.  Our pace was good.  We agreed to not stop our watches when we stopped for water or the potty, because in an official marathon you are on the clock from start to finish.  We wanted an accurate time for our 26.2 mile run.  So, while our average pace was slower than normal, our running pace was pretty much on target.  

And then at mile 16, I suddenly developed severe, debilitating leg cramps down the backs on both of my legs.  MY LEGS HURT SO BAD.  I could not understand why.  All of those long runs I had done.  Miles and miles of training, and I had never had these leg cramps.  (They were just like the ones I had when I was suddenly stopped at mile 25.8 at the Boston Marathon).  We walked.  My legs hurt.  I stretched.  My legs hurt.  We ran.  My legs hurt.  After about a mile of this, I sent Leanna on ahead.  She was feeling great, and I did not want to hold her back.  We had agreed before the race that if I crashed during the race, she was to go ahead.  I never, never dreamed than my legs would fail me like this.  

I walked and cried and prayed alone for about 2 miles.  The pain subsided a good bit, so I began to run slowly again.  At some point I realized that we had miscalculated, and that if Leanna went to the end of Ridge Road again, she would be at mile 26.2 about 5 miles from the car!  I hoped so badly that she would realize that we had done the math wrong before she had run too far.  (That is normal for us girls who run together, by the way, for us to sometimes "do the math wrong" when we are calculating distance while running---brain fog from running all those miles!)

And then I saw Leanna!  Yay!  She had figured out that she needed to turn around!  I ran with her about a quarter of a mile, but then my legs started cramping again, and I sent her on again.  By this time, Koach had drove up to check on us.  Leanna had about 5 miles to go, and I had about 6 ish.  He left to go mark a Finish Line for Leanna, and then promised to come back to check on me.  I told him I had been struggling.  (What an understatement!).  In fact, if Koach had showed up at between miles 16-18, I would have gotten in his truck and had a Did Not Finish.  During that 2 miles of walking/slowing hobbling, my feet and fingers were frozen!  

Koach came back.  I was at about mile 21.  I was crying again.  I told him I was through running marathons.  Through!  He offered me all kinds of things from the back of his truck:  BBQ chips, M&Ms, water, Powerade, a banana……I ate half a banana and drank a few sips of water.  I just sat in the back of his truck, and tried to collect myself.  I kept my watch running.  I debated---I was so close to being done.  This was my 5th marathon.  I really wanted to finish.  Koach figured the leg cramps were from dehydration.  I had not drunk much (the water and Powerade gave me a brain freeze), and I had not eaten nearly enough for such a demanding run.  Who knows?  I decided to keep on running.  Koach promised to come back after he checked on Leanna again.

I started running again.  As soon as Koach was out of sight, I regretted my decision.  Why did I not get into his truck?  What was I thinking??  I walked a little bit more.  The pain lessened, and then went away.  I started running.  I ran and I ran and I ran.  Koach came back and I gave him thumbs up!  I had pulled myself together.  I knew then that I would finish!  I ran the last 4 miles with only one walk break--at mile 25.2, I walked just a little bit so I knew that when I ran again, I would have less than one mile left.

I finally finished.  

5 hours, 18 minutes.

WORST. RUN. EVER.

As miserable I as was though, I was so happy for Leanna!  She finished way, way ahead of me!  4:43.  Koach made her a finish line to cross!

Leanna, approaching the finish line of the Last Annual Highway 350 Marathon.

She won!!

Koach was so sweet to stay out there all day with us.  He also crafted Leanna a finisher's medal out of things he had in his truck!  It said Hwy. 350 Marathon!  He also gave her a 26.2 bracelet.  Yay Leanna!

Now I have said this before.  But this time I really, really mean it.  I am not running another marathon!

Christmas Cards From the Past

My Christmas cards are due to arrive either today or tomorrow, and this morning I was thinking about our cards from past years.  I was trying to remember what the children wore, or where we took the picture.  I remember when we used cameras with film, and I would take a whole roll, drive to Target (when we lived in Jackson and had a Target nearby!), get the pictures developed, and hope that at least one of the 36 would be decent!  Sometimes I had to dress the children up again, and take another roll of film…just trying to get the perfect photo!

I am so thankful for digital cameras.  And the fact that my kids are old enough to sit still (no one tries to run away or escape during the photo shoot) and smile.  

Here are some pictures from past Christmases….

 2002

 2003

This is the picture we used on the card that year.

 2003 also

When I was looking through old pictures on the computer, I thought this one was the card photo, until I saw the above picture--then I remembered!

 2006

One photo session, trying to get a decent picture for the card--the first card that featured 5 children.

 2006

Another day, another outfit.

This is the photo that we used.

 2007

I loved these Christmas outfits!

 2004

Our first Christmas card with 4 children.

2005

Our first Christmas card at the house we currently live in.

I love Christmas cards!

Fun Day at the Mall

In case you can't tell, we are taking an extended holiday break from school.  Our last day of school was the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, and we are starting back January 6 or 7th.  I have to take Olivia to the airport on January 6th, so I am not sure how we will begin school that day…..we will see!

Anyway, up until a couple of years ago, we always took a school break from Thanksgiving until after the New Year.  I shortened our break as my older children entered high school and had an increased work load in their schoolwork.  However, this year I realized that my 2nd and 4th graders could afford an extended break--just like their older siblings did when they were their age.  Julie (11th grade) worked ahead in her schoolwork so that she could enjoy the long break too.  Clay (9th grade) has a few loose ends to tie up in geography, 1/2 of a math lesson to complete, and one more module in Apologia biology.  He is in a weekly science class that meets until December 19!  Poor Clay!  He also has an exam on the first 7 modules of the book on that day.  So, even though it is Christmas break around here, Clay is still doing schoolwork for a short while each morning.  

Yesterday, we continued our holiday fun.  As an early Christmas present, I offered to take Leah and Sam to Build-A-Bear and let them choose an animal and one outfit.  They were beyond excited.  They could hardly go to bed the night before, and for days prior to yesterday they were counting the days until we went to the mall!  Such excitement!

Clay was at Lynn's house, so just Julie joined us.  Our fun day included visiting Build-A-Bear, visiting Santa Claus, eating lunch at the Chick-Fil-A in the food court, enjoying seasonal entertainment by a local high school choral group while we ate, and then some Christmas shopping.  The kids were not too fired up about my shopping, but they patiently played with their new animals while I shopped.  They could not wait to get home and play with their animals there.

I think they said, "Thank you Mama!" over 100 times!  

 Sam with his red panda (I thought it was a fox!).  He named it Robert.

 Leah with her rainbow bear in a sparkly outfit.  She named her Katherine.

 Leah, Julie, and Sam in the Santa line.  Well, it was not even a line, but we still stopped at this photo place before we visiting Santa.

Sam and Leah with Santa Claus.

Sam asked him for a walkie-talkie (and then expressed concern to me that he asked for a walkie talkie--singular--and not walkie-talkies--plural--would Santa know that he needs two walkie talkies?)

Leah asked for the American Girl doll, Molly.

I got more Christmas shopping done.  It was a relaxing day, even with the shopping, because we were not rushed and the mall was practically deserted.

We have more fun planned for today!

Making Gingerbread Houses

Yesterday I invited two of my friends, Lynn and Leanna, and their 8 children over to decorate homemade gingerbread houses.  Julie mixed up 4 batches of gingerbread over the weekend.  I rolled out, cut and baked sides, ends, and roofs (6 pieces for each house) for 12 gingerbread houses Sunday afternoon, Sunday night, and also on Monday.  As usual with my projects, it took way longer than I anticipated!  But, I learned during the process, and next year it will be easier. 

I bought one pre made gingerbread house to use as a pattern.  I intended to break the house apart and use the pieces for my pattern, but I could not get the house apart!  So I laid the house on notebook paper and roughly traced each part.  Since I am not a perfectionist, the finished houses were less than perfect!  There were gaps everywhere when we glued them together with icing.  Next year I am going to ask Jimmy to help me create a better pattern.

Julie and I made royal icing using meringue powder, powdered sugar, and water and the recipe on the meringue powder can.  I think we made 4 batches of icing, but we did have some left over.  I made labels for each child and taped them on with clear packing tape onto icing bottles (bought in packs of two from Walmart).  After much, much mess and trial and error, we discovered that the best way to get the icing from the mixing bowl into the bottles was to pour the icing into a gallon sized zip lock bag, snip one corner off, and squeeze the icing into the bottles.

I bought several different types of candies for decorating--M&Ms, sour sweet tart balls, red and green gumdrops, chewy rectangle things, twizzlers, and small gingerbread cookies.  I put each candy in a bowl or on a platter, and provided each child with a rectangle plastic tray (bought at Walmart) and clear plastic cups.  They filled their cups with their candies and used the trays to transport the candy to their work area.  Clay and I had glued each house together just before our guests arrived, and we glued each house down on a square cake decorating board (bought at Hobby Lobby in packs of 6).

 Each child has his own bottle of "glue"--edible royal icing

This stuff really is like glue!  Not one house fell apart!

 The gingerbread house decorating supplies

 Cute little gingerbread boys

 The house pieces, before we glued them together

 A glued house, ready to be embellished

The children were so creative with their decorating, and I think they worked on the houses for about 45 minutes.  I was so happy that none of the houses fell apart.  That royal icing is strong when it dries!

 Leah and Lana Kate

 Avery and Annelise

 Clay and Parker

These older boys had so much fun doing this!

 Carson

 Leah again, busily working

 Julie

 Jared and Sam

 Jack, Leanna, and Joey

 What a pretty house!

When each child finished decorating their house, I took a picture of them holding their house in front of our Christmas tree.  I made little signs with their names on them.  I printed the names on labels, stuck them on scrapbook paper, taped them to a cute striped lollipop stick (bought in a package from Walmart), and stuck it into a red or green candy fruit slice.

The children were so creative!

Here is the whole group (with Jack on the far left in the windowsill--he did not want to have his picture made) with their gingerbread neighborhood.

When the decorating was complete, we sent the children upstairs and outside while we cleaned up and set out lunch.  Lynn and Leanna graciously brought lunch for us all--chicken strips, fruit salad, green salad, and croissants.  Delicious!!  We all enjoyed lunch and visiting and then the kids played some more.

It was a delightful day!

Holiday Hint #4

Or is it #5?  I'm not sure!

Batteries:  Make a list of batteries you will need.  I try to keep a list in my purse or in my Christmas binder and add to it as I purchase gifts that require batteries.  I like to give batteries with the gifts that need them.  When my kids were younger, I actually took the gifts out of the never ending binding, inserted the batteries, and then repackaged the gift.  I don't have many gifts this year that require batteries, but I definitely want to buy the batteries that I need.  When the list is complete--buy the batteries!  I usually get mine at Sam's.

Today I am having two friends and their children over for a gingerbread house decorating session!  I had the bright idea of making homemade gingerbread houses, and 5-6 hours later I have 72 pieces of gingerbread cut to perfection (ha!) and ready to be glued together to make gingerbread houses.  I have all the supplies needed to decorate the houses.  Julie and I plan to glue them together later this morning with royal icing and then set up a cute area for decorating.  My friends are bringing lunch, and we hope to have a fun morning.  I'l be sure to take pictures and post later.

I am about to run my last 3 miles of marathon training!  And then I can rest (from running) until Saturday.  The weather forecast is improving slightly, but I still plan to wear multiple layers of clothing.

Olivia made it safely back to college.  She almost missed her plane due to a traffic jam (a wreck), but thankfully her plane was delayed by 45 minutes, and she made it to the airport in time.  It was a stressful 30 minutes or so as Jimmy and I were calling each other back and forth, checking the flight status online, etc.  She was back at her dorm by about 8:00 last night.  She'll be home again in 9 days!

The Latest

We have had such a fun time with Olivia home these last few days!  Sadly, she must leave around 1:00 PM today to head to the airport to fly back to school.  However, she will be home again on December 12 for the Christmas holidays!  Hooray!  We are all looking forward to a nice long visit full of crafting, cooking, visiting, relaxing, and most importantly, no schoolwork!  

When I was downloading the pictures from Thanksgiving at my parents' house, I looked (for the first time) at all of our pictures from our fun trip last month to Chattanooga.  The picture below is one of my favorites.  Of course, it is missing two very important people--Jimmy (who took the picture) and Olivia, who was at Syracuse, NY for her national college XC meet.  

 The Mims family and the Johnson family (minus 2!)

 Me and Jimmy

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving celebration at my parents' house last Thursday.  Both of my brothers and their families and both of my grandmothers were able to come too.  We had a houseful, and my hard-working mother prepared all of the food!  I am so thankful for that!

 My parents, their children and grandchildren.

All five of my precious children--all together!

Before this day, I had not ordered my Christmas cards (which I usually do in early November in order to have them ready to mail on December 1), because Olivia was not home for us to take a picture.  For the last few years I have used a picture that we had taken the previous summer at Seaside for our Christmas card photo, but since we did not go to Seaside this year, I did not have that picture (We are going to Seaside this upcoming year!  It's already booked!)

Anyway, I asked the children to change into a white t shirt and jeans and we went outside (and it was cold!) to try to get a good picture.  It worked!  It is so nice not having little children that run away or cry while you are trying to take a decent picture.  Believe me, I have had my share of stressful Christmas card photo sessions!  My children all behaved, and within 10 minutes we had several good pictures to choose from.  Thank you, children!  The picture above is not my Christmas card picture, but I love this picture too.

So now I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of the printed photo cards.  I plan to prepare the address and return address labels tomorrow and have everything ready to prepare the cards for mailing the day that they arrive.

Holiday Hint #3

• Continue wrapping presents--I admit I have NOT started yet, but it is still a great idea.  
• Prepare cards for mailing and mail them--that is my goal for this week.
• Make a list of all holiday baking you plan to do this month.  Then make a list of all ingredients you need.  Shop your pantry first, and then make a trip to the grocery store to purchase all of your supplies.  I plan to make a separate trip to Kroger for this purpose, instead of tacking on all of these extra items onto my weekly shopping list.  
• Schedule baking days.  As I say every year--do not try to do all of your holiday baking in one day.  It is just too much!  It seems like a great idea, but it really is just too much!  Spread it out over two, three, or more days.  A few shorter sessions really work better than one all day cooking marathon.
• Get out your December calendar.  Write down every single party, parade, gathering, program, cookie swap, etc.  Looking at the entire month can help you schedule your personal baking, crafting, and shopping days.  

The St. Jude Marathon is this Saturday!  I have one more run of 3 miles tomorrow, and then I will rest until the big day.  This will be my 5th marathon!  I am running with Leanna and Stacee, and this is their  first marathon.  I am so proud of them and all of the hours they have put into training.  I cannot wait to see how we will do! Take a look at the weather forecast for Saturday.  Do you see that the predicted low for Friday night (which is what it will be early Saturday morning) is 21!!  And that the high for Saturday (which will probably be after we finish the marathon!) is 30??

We are going to freeze!

Happy December!