First Year of My 40 by 40 Goal

my littlest training partner, snoozing away during a hike

I turned 39 last week, so I have officially finished the first year of my two year goal to complete 40 races before I turn 40.  One year down, one to go.

I completed 26 races the first year, though my count is now at 27 now since I ran the Vineyard 5k after my birthday.

27 races out of 40 means I'm 2/3 of the way to my goal and only need 13 more to reach it. In fact, I'm on track to finish by the end of this year- 6 months early. I could spread the races out, but I kind of want to be done so I can take a break.

It's surprised me how tiring this has all been. Not that my training schedule has been over the top, but competing in races when I'm out of shape is physically tiring and making sure the kiddos are being taken care of while I'm running all these races and Mr M works is draining in its own way. We have a great babysitter as well as friends who will watch them, but I just hate leaving the kiddos. I think it's residual helicopter parenting that I haven't quite managed to kick.

I should be several races over my goal by New Year's Eve (the last race I have planned) and that's the point where I will call it good. I may run a few races in 2017, but I won't won't have a specific goal like in years past.

For several years I had a goal to run one race a month, and that was a good goal to have and it put me in a good place to start my 40 by 40 goal. I need a break from the intense race schedule and I want to really focus on my training. I could focus on my training while still working on my 40 by 40 goal, and I'll do the best I can in the next six months, but there's only so much I can do. I'm still breastfeeding Ocean and Mr M's still working a crazy schedule, so I don't have a ton of time and energy to devote to the treadmill.

I will say that searching out races of various distances and types has helped me find new races that I'd like to do again and has also helped me get out of my comfort zone of running the same races over and over.

In the meantime, here's the distances I've completed so far: 
1 mile
4k
5k (18 of them!)
4 mile
4.8 mile
half marathon (virtual)
13.6 mile
full marathon (virtual)
10k kayak race
volunteered at a race

Here's the types of races I've completed:
trail runs
road races
mixed surface races
cross country
obstacle run
mud run
glow runs
corn maze
kayak race

And here's some added fun to the races:
raced while very pregnant (38 weeks!)
raced while pushing one boy in the stroller
raced while pushing both boys in the stroller
came in first in my age group
finished dead last
ran two races less than 12 hours apart (different days)
ran two races in the same day (twice!)

11 Months

Ocean may be a little guy, but he's got a big personality :) He's such a funny little boy. When we call his name as he's crawling around, he giggles and crawls faster towards whatever taboo location (bathroom, stairs, etc) is closest. He knows he's not supposed to go near them, but always tries anyway.

He's started sticking out his tongue when he's hungry. This is helpful in determining what a particular fussy bout means. The funny part is that it's not just a little bit of his tongue, it's the whole thing.

His scar is improving, though there's still a ways to go. I rub my scar-reducing salve on it several times a day and between that and his resilient baby skin the scar is fading.

Ocean's second bottom tooth came in about two weeks after the first one. His top teeth haven't erupted yet, but three of them are close.

if you look closely at his upper gum you can see his two teeth that are coming in

His hair is getting shaggy, but it's not as bad as River's was. It seems to be getting lighter: the ends are darker then his roots, which gives his hair an interesting look. In some light it almost looks  like a very light strawberry blonde. Or is it more of a sandy blonde? We have one more month until his first haircut, and I'm curious to see how blonde he looks afterwards.

I still can't decide if Ocean's eyes are light brown or hazel. They seem to change color a bit, so I think they're hazel. But if that's the case, it's a different hazel than what Sunshine and Mr M share.

I put the boys in the shopping cart and River immediately put his arm around Ocean so I could take a picture of them :) You can see their eye colors pretty well here.

Ocean loves eating. He still nurses an average of three times a day, but he is a solid believer in food that he can shove in his mouth. I'm a firm believer in letting babies feed themselves, but I will be glad when he stops making such a mess.

He loves water in whatever form he can get it: bath, spray park, kitchen sink, etc.

I forgot his suit in the car and it was too far away to easily get, so he enjoyed the splash park in his t-shirt and diaper

We went strawberry picking and Ocean had to hang out in the stroller- I don't like doing a lot of bending over with him strapped to me. He did pretty well, though he didn't hesitate to let us know when he was done and ready to go. Luckily that coincided with when we filled our box.

River can be a bit rough with Ocean sometimes (he's only two and a half, after all), but he can also be super sweet. At those times they're the cutest little buddies. Ocean thinks River is funny- random things River does will set Ocean laughing.

River reached down to hold Ocean's hand while we were on a hike and Ocean giggled the whole time they held hands- too cute!

Ocean is a handsome little dude.

That personality I mentioned earlier can be seen here. Love the expression on his face. He's such a funny little kiddo and really loves playing with cars and pushing them around. If he can't find a car to push around, he'll push bowls, food storage containers, whatever he can reach.

He's becoming more intentional with his actions: when I put him in his booster chair to eat he reaches down and pulls up the center bar that supports his tray, when I buckle him into his car seat he always reaches up to grab his blankie (we keep one in the car for calming purposes), he waves at people, and he's started clapping.

He's also becoming much more adventuresome. I heard him fussing a few days ago and found him stuck in the table behind the couch. He'd climbed in on the other end and then couldn't get out on this end because the toy bin was in the way.

he was getting pretty upset about the whole thing, which you can tell because his head is turning red

This month he had roseola. He had a fever for a couple days, but was otherwise fine, and then a couple days later the rash showed up. That was the point when I figured out what was going on. I remember Sunshine having it when she was about 2 years old, but I don't think River has had it.  Ocean might have shared it with River, but I'm not certain. River had a few days of fever, but I never saw the rash.

Ocean is standing for longer periods, and is getting braver and letting go of things and trying to take a step. He can stand on his own for a few seconds before he loses his balance and plops down.

This picture cracks me up. I was just about finished taking his 11 month pictures (which he wasn't super cooperative for) and I sat him up to try to get a picture of his shaggy hair. I ended up with this expression: he's not impressed and he's ready to be done.

One more month until he's a year old- time has gone by so quickly.

Chicken Coop Progress, Week 8 and Chicks!

what the coop looked like at the end of week 7

The first work day I purchased the rest of the plywood I needed since I'd miscalculated how much I needed. Then I got the rest of the big pieces hung. I cut out pieces for windows, but other than that it was pretty straightforward.

A miscalculation I made early on is continuing to cause problems and be a pain. The end (narrower) walls are 8' wide, but I should have made them a few inches less than 8' wide so the outside width was 8'. Since I didn't, my outside width is about 8'4" wide, which leaves a gap between my two 4' wide sheets of plywood, as you can see below. In hindsight (as I'm typing this), I should have kept the plywood pieces together and left the gap on one side, rather than in the middle, where it's a lot harder to match up siding with grooves. Lesson learned. And I should have been a bit more careful measuring the angles for the end gable pieces- I didn't get those quite right either.

The second hand door I bought for the coop didn't come with a knob. I planned on buying one eventually, but then I remembered that I had a knob I purchased years ago and never used.

I never used the knob because it came with just the two knobs and the center threaded rod for attaching them to each other. There weren't even the basic base plates that come with dummy knobs. This door didn't need the base plates though, so this knob was perfect.

It was super simple to install and adds a little bling to the door. Because every chicken coop needs a little bling. Oh, and it's much easier to open and close the door with the knobs in place :)

I filled in the missing bits of plywood and called it good for the week.

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As I mentioned last week, I finally ordered our chicks. They were hatched Monday and we picked them up at the post office Wednesday morning. I ordered 30, in the hopes that not too many would die and we would have at least 25 to put in the freezer come harvest day. That would give us one chicken every other week for a year (our current consumption rate) or one chicken every week for half a year. Since I'd like to do another batch of chicks this fall, that would allow us to eat one chicken a week for a full year (our preferred consumption rate).

cute little fuzzball just home from the post office

 I thought this bin would make a great brooder until I put 30 chicks in it and realized it was too small for that many chicks.

So I divided the group between these bins, which are working out a lot better. Though the sides aren't as tall and I'm worried about the chicks hopping/flying out as they get bigger. I'll probably have to make a screen top to cover the bins to keep the chicks in. We're still using the heat lamp, but I unplugged it for the pictures because heat lamps wreak havoc with picture quality.

The feeders and waterers are sitting on a 2x4 framework covered with plastic mesh. This helps keep the feeders and waterers cleaner (fewer shavings tracked/kicked in) and also keeps the bedding cleaner and drier.

We lost three chicks the first two days, but none since then, and are hopeful that we can keep these alive and healthy.

Vineyard 5k Recap

beautiful setting, but those hills!

Last week I managed one treadmill workout, a 5k, and 3 coop work days (more on those tomorrow).

The 5k was run on the paved access roads that run through an area vineyard. It was very scenic, but also probably one of the hilliest races I've ever run. And I was not prepared at all- the course description neglected to mention the extent of the hills.

So many hills. Most of the uphills were in the first half of the race with one short section of flattish road kind of in the middle. The course was out and back, so at least we got to run down all those hills we ran up, though there were still some uphills in the second half as well. I ended up running most of the race with another runner, and I think I ran it harder than I would have if it had just been me. If it had just been me, there would have been more (and longer) walk breaks. Running partners really can be beneficial- one of these days I'll have the time to find one.

you can just see the road behind the tree, following the curve between the two hills

it looks mild, but looks are deceiving

The race started up a long, steep hill, which was not fun, but we got to finish down that same hill, so it was actually a great finish. The great finish didn't make up for the tough course though. Even the top finishers didn't have fast times. That said, I would probably do this race again if I was incorporating hill work in my workouts on a regular basis.

I ran 3.14 miles in 39:10, which is a 12:28 pace. Not my fastest time ever, but also not my worst time, surprisingly. I've run slower 5ks depending on terrain and whether I'm pushing a jogger with a baby in it. It was overcast and humid, with a slight breeze. Sunshine probably would have meant slightly lower humidity levels, but also higher temps than we already suffered through. Summer is just not great running weather here.
1st mile: 13:05
2nd mile:12:00
3rd mile:12:49

15th race of 2016

Month	Event	Time
January	New Year’s Day 5k	33:01
February	Frostbite 5k	37:37
February	Mud Run	1:35:37
March	4k Walk	33:19
March	March 5k	33:49
March	Pi Day Virtual 5k	1:01:30
March	Obstacle Race	44:06
April	Glow Run	35:16
April	April 5k	41:15
April	Evening Run	34:59
May	May 5k	35:18
May	Evening Cross Country Race	43:17
June	June 5k	39:21
June	1 Mile Glow Run	11:38
June	Vineyard 5k	39:10

27th race towards my 40 by 40 goal

	Date	Event	Distance	Event Type
1.	July 2015	4th of July 5k	5k	Pregnant
2.	August	4 Mile Fun Run	4 miles	Road Race
3.	September	All Terrain	5k	Mixed surface
4.	October	Hill Valley Half	13.1 miles	Virtual half marathon
5.	October	Corn Maze 5k	5k	Corn Maze
6.	October	Kilted Trail 5k	5k	Kilted race
7.	November	Trail Half	13.6 miles	Trail Half
8.	November	Turkey Trot	5k	Road Race
9.	December	Veteran’s 5k	5k	Mixed surface
10.	December	Army Virtual Marathon	26.23 miles	Virtual marathon
11.	January 2016	New Year’s Day 5k	5k	Road race
12.	February	Frostbite 5k	5k	Cross country race
13.	February	Mud Run	4.8 miles	Mud run
14.	March	4k Walk	4k	Walk
15.	March	March 5k	5k	Road race
16.	March	Pi Day Virtual 5k	5k	Virtual 5k Walk
17.	March	10 mile race	Not applicable	Water stop volunteer
18.	March	Obstacle Race	5k	Obstacle run
19.	April	Glow Run	5k	Glow Run, 1st of 2 races in 12 hours
20.	April	April 5k	5k	Pushing jogger, 2nd of 2 races in 12 hours
21.	April	Evening Run	5k	Evening run
22.	May	10k Kayak Race	10k	Kayak race
23.	May	May 5k	5k	1st of 2 races in same day
24.	May	Evening CC Race	5k	Evening cross country, 2nd of 2 races in same day
25.	June	June 5k	5k	Pushing jogger, 1st of 2 races in same day
26.	June	1 Mile Glow Run	1 mile	Pushing jogger with both boys, 2nd of 2 races in same day, glow run
27.	June	Vineyard 5k	5k	Vineyard run