Start your engines!

Every year our AWANA group at church does a pine derby race. My kids (yes, all three...Maryna, Garrett and BRAD) all look forward to this event. The first couple of years Garrett was under the impression that if he chose a real car that was fast (i.e. Corvette, Lamborguini, etc) as his car design, that meant the pine derby car would be fast :) It was really cute!

They have since learned that it is about design and the cool tricks that dad can do to the car. For the past several years, the kids have been very competitive. Last year, Garrett really wanted to win so Brad spent a little extra time on his car. And yes, he won!


This year Brad decided he was going to spend equal time on the cars and if they won, that's great. He wasn't going to focus on one car over the other though. So, how do you think it turned out?

Here are the kids getting ready for their first race (against each other)





Maryna carefully placing her car in just the right spot (hers is the orange car and Garrett's is the silver metallic car).
Cars are set, now let's get them racing.
And who do you think won?

Maryna took first place and Garrett took second by 0.002 seconds difference. The top 2 in each class then raced for the grand championship. Here is the winner!

She was so happy to win, but more excited that she barely beat Garrett :) It was alot of fun and the kids had a great time.

March Madness

So the title actually means several things in my family. First and foremost it is basketball playoff time. Woo hoo!! It is my second favorite sports time of the year (only to college football bowls) and I'm so excited to get the games started. I watched Purdue win the Big 10 championship Sunday afternoon and then watched the selection show right after. It was great to see some teams really excited to be in the tournament. And then there was Memphis. Ok, I know they are upset to not get the #1 seed, however, show some class. When Memphis was announced as a #2 seed, their players barely clapped. How pathetic! The best thing they could have done was show some excitement and then go out onto the court and PROVE you should have been #1. Well, as soon as the selection show was over, I was online completing my brackets. I've done 2 cause there were several matchups I couldn't decide who I thought would win. Also, I like picking the upset every once in awhile. So, bring on the basketball! I will, of course, be rooting for my Sooners, but would like to see Purdue and Butler do well.

The second stage of my March madness is work. Yesterday, we had a large ceremony at one of our hospitals (did I mention that this is my large project for the next couple of years and anything and everything to do with this expansion is mine - when it comes to marketing) that is going through a $130 million expansion. So, I spent all day yesterday setting up, coordinating, tearing down, etc for this event. We had a great turnout and were covered on all the major network news shows last night. Here's a photo from the event.

Madness part 3 is our personal schedule. From soccer to school to church...it's BUSY. I had to create a family calendar for March through July and color code each event based on who it pertained to. It is CRAZY. We have something every day/night this month except for Fridays. I'm going to do my best to keep those free. So, in the midst of my madness, I'm trying to find ways to relax - mainly running, working out and reading good books. There has got to be some sanity in my madness :)

Half marathon...can you believe it?

Ok, so it is less than 11 weeks until I have to do something I'd never thought I'd do.....run a half marathon. For those of you that know me, you realize how crazy this idea really is. I mean, I was the girl that during cross country my sophomore year of high school, hitched a ride back to the school just so I wouldn't have to run the complete distance. I had no desired to run anything longer than about 400 yards and was simply doing it to keep in shape for track. My parents said it was a "character building" opportunity. RIGHT!

Although, I did see on TV where I'm not the only one with that idea. The guy that was eliminated from the Biggest Loser a week ago decided to run a marathon with his wife and in order to complete in the time provided by the race officials, he had to ride in a van the final 3 miles. Now, a marathon is huge (26 miles), but for Pete sake (who's Pete...not sure) if you're going to put it out there that you completed a marathon, complete the marathon.

Ok, I'm back off my soapbox. Anyways, I am following a training schedule which has me doing longer runs 3x a week, shorter runs or cross training (bike riding, swimming, stair climbing, etc) 2x a week and then weight lifting 2 of those days as well. It is a very rigorous schedule, but since I have a schedule, it keeps me on track. I am a little concerned that I won't be up to running 13.1 miles in the morning as my blood sugar worries me a bit. However, I have several good resources (considering I work for a hospital) here that I'm going to tap into for advice.

The weather here finally seems to be turning and warming up. I've been told not train on a treadmill, however, with my luck and my amazing ability to get injured, I decided I wasn't going to train outside if there was a possibility of ice or snow. So, looks like this afternoon I might actually get to do my cross training outdoors (it's 64 degrees outside....heat wave)! I think I'll do some bike riding today. Both kids have soccer practice this evening, so what a great way to spend my time while they are gone. I get to burn calories and be out in the sunshine.
I'm so excited! Bring on the beautiful spring weather.