Easy Race Medal Display

A while ago I was trying to come up with a better way of displaying all my race medals than this:

That's the corner of the mirror in our bedroom

After googling around for some ideas, I decided to rummage through my wood stash and see what I could come up with.

I cut the wood pieces to size, and then put them away and didn't do anything with them for months. I just needed to paint the flat board before assembling it, but I never quite got around to it.

Recently I decided to sell this buffet that's been sitting in our living room for the last couple years. The original intent was to use it as the vanity in the master bath when we re-do it, but after having it around for awhile I've realized it's too tall to use as a vanity and you can't cut the legs down and still have them look good. Since I'm also tired of it taking up space in the living room, it was time to get rid of it.

I started prepping it to paint and then remembered to take a quick pic

But first I needed to paint it. The wood isn't in the greatest shape and I decided it would look better if it was painted. I'll share the end result in another post. Since I was in painting mode, I took a couple minutes to paint the flat board.

Two coats of paint and a coat of clear wax later, the board was finished. Finally.

I attached hooks at either end of the board and then rested the wood dowel in the hooks. The wood is hand scraped lodgepole pine, part of a bundle we purchased years and years ago for a project that we started but never finished before moving and no longer needing the project. We've carted the wood around since then, but it's past time to find uses for all of it so it doesn't go to waste.

This really was a simple project and only took a few minutes here and there to cut, paint, and assemble. I'm pleased with how it turned out and I'm glad I can finally cross it off my to do list.

there's room for a few more, then I'll have to start squishing them together a bit

I'll eventually winnow my collection down to just half and full marathons and 52 hike challenge, but it's fine for now

Weekly Mileage #65 and Tree Hugger Hike

the trees were wet, so no actual hugging occurred 

The week before last was a stellar exercise week, but I wasn't able to keep the momentum up last week. Monday I usually ride my bike, but Mr M's brother was still here, and since my bike is in the guest room, I couldn't ride it. He left in the evening, but I've found that I have very little motivation to exercise by the time evening rolls around. Mornings are best for me.

Tuesday I'd planned to spend some time on the treadmill after dropping Sunshine off for camp, but I had another migraine. Not as bad as the last one, but still problematic. Sigh.

check out the straight lines of that moss- it looks like a saddle blanket on the back of a horse

Wednesday we went swimming at a friend's house, which the boys loved. They love filling our soaker tub and just playing in the water, so a swimming pool is even better. Once they got comfortable in the water and with their lifejackets they confidently tootled around in the water and had a blast. I'm pretty sure they're going to love swim lessons next month. When we returned home I rode 15 miles on my bike while the boys had quiet time. I was aiming for 20 miles, but my bum just couldn't handle the hard bike seat anymore.

Ocean would stand at the top of each little hill and count, then run down the hill

Thursday I optimistically hoped for a hike after my dentist appointment, but that didn't happen. I had to go finish the root canal (remove packing, clean out the tips of the <curved> nerve endings, make and install the crown) and get a couple small cavities filled. The root canal was on one side and the fillings on the other, so I was numb all over, but I wanted to get it done and over with. I really don't like how I feel with the dental anesthesia- I can feel it moving up my cheeks to my eye sockets, and this time around it made my vision a little blurry. Does anybody else have this happen, or is this just my body being unreliable again? I thought about walking on the treadmill later in the afternoon or evening, but when the time came, while I was no longer numb, I was sore and still a bit fuzzy, and had no energy or motivation.

Ocean walked the shortest distance, but got the dirtiest since he sought out all the water and mud, while the rest of us tried to avoid it

Friday I rode 5 miles on my bike to get my total to 20 for the week, and then I walked a mile and a half on the treadmill because I really need to work on my mileage.

A tree and a leaf. The tree survived till bedtime, the leaf was smeared right after this picture.

Saturday we participated in a Tree Hugger Hike sponsored by the playscape we've gone to a couple times. The hike was held at the park next door to the playscape, and they tied Hug Me signs to some of the trees, which you were supposed to find. We easily found them all, then continued up the trail. The trail that got very steep in places. It was also muddy because we got more rain this week (the rivers are back up to flood level), and if you ask River how the hike was, he'll tell you all about the icky mud that swallowed the kid's shoe (they were able to retrieve it). It was nice to hike some new trails, but it was challenging because of the steepness. The first half was uphill, and some of it quite steep, and I was carrying Ocean on my back, so I got a really good workout. Afterwards we had ice cream and played in the stream at the playscape next door.

the water was high and fast, but that didn't stop the boys from trying to catch fish :) 

Weekly Mileage
Wednesday- 15.00 miles on the bike
Friday- 5.00 miles on the bike
              + 1.50 miles on the treadmill
Saturday- 1.75 miles hiked
    total- 23.25 miles

8 hikes towards #52hikechallenge
1.10 kayak miles towards #365milechallenge

94.03 foot miles towards #365milechallenge
180.00 bike miles towards #365milechallenge
275.13 miles total

Sunday Funny

my little hiking buddy

A few weeks ago I posted about River introducing himself as Captain America. That very day at church it happened again.

We have a new chorister in Primary, who also happens to be fairly new in the ward, so she doesn't know very many kids' names yet.

She'd called several children to the front to help with an activity, and she asked their names. The first two said their names, and River enthusiastically told her his name was Captain America.

She didn't bat an eyelash, and when calling the kids by their names, called him Captain America. He loved it.

All the leaders were trying really hard not to laugh, since it's such a River thing to do.

Weekly Mileage #64

this stream crossing was a lot higher and faster than last time we were here

Last week was my best exercise week of the year. I exercised 6 days in a row! I don't remember the last time I managed that, but it sure felt good. Ok, there was some sore muscles, but it still felt good. Let's see if I can repeat it this week and next, and the following weeks as well....

they went right for the rocks

There was nothing special about my workouts Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, but the next three were more interesting.

big splashes from the boys

love his optimism!

I managed two hikes this week, which needs to happen a lot more often if we're going to get to 52 by the end of the year. Mr M's brother was visiting, so Mr M took a couple days off work, and they were able to come with the kiddos and I on our first hike. This is a hike we've done before (here, here, and here), but this was definitely the best weather.

Mr M demonstrated proper rock skipping technique, but the boys ignored his lessons

A black bear crossed the road in front of us a few miles before we got to the trailhead, but it disappeared into the underbrush next to the road by the time we got to the spot. It's been a few years since we saw a bear, so that was exciting.

trying to catch a crayfish we saw walking on the bottom

When we got to the swimming hole, we saw minnows and small fish in the water, but they didn't hang around once the kiddos started trying to skip rocks. Or just throwing the rocks, in the case of the boys. We found a couple crayfish under rocks, which was interesting. The water was a bit too cold for swimming, but we had fun splashing around.

it was a one-clawed crayfish (we put it back in the water)

Sunshine was brave enough to hold it, but the boys wouldn't touch it- this was the second crayfish we caught- it had two claws

Friday the boys and I went on another hike while Mr M, his brother, and Sunshine did some sightseeing. We've been to this trail before, and I thought we'd head up into the hills on a dirt trail, but River wanted to go on the "bridges"- the boardwalk bridges that make up about a third of the trail that  winds up the mountain to Monticello. He wanted to keep going, but I thought it was best to turn around while the going was still good, which was smart, since Ocean had some meltdowns on the way down and had to be carried part of the way back- he was done.

not a part of the boardwalk trail, but still pretty

he's getting so grown up

We stopped to climb on the giant tree trunk for a few minutes. Ocean was proud of himself for being able to climb up just as high as River did.

Saturday C and I were able to go running again. We went at 6:30 am, and the temps were gloriously, unexpectedly cool. Perfect for running. It was still humid enough that we got pretty sweaty, but at least we weren't dying from the heat.

so peaceful- no traffic other than a couple bicyclists

I spent a couple hours later in the day building a door for the chicken run, which meant lots of walking back and forth between the chicken run and the garden shed, where the saw was. I thought about putting my Garmin on, but decided not to, so I don't know how far I walked, but I'm sure it was at least a mile or two, though I'm not counting them towards my total.

When I built the chicken run last year, I left an opening for a door, but I'd run out of wood for the actual door. I stretched fencing across the opening and promptly put finishing the door on the back burner. My neighbor has her remaining chickens in our coop (her free ranged flock has been decimated by foxes this year) and we decided it was past time to make that one weak spot stronger. It was nice to work with my hands and sweat, but it was hot enough that I was definitely ready to quit by the time I finished the door. I didn't actually finish it yet- I need to buy hinges, a latch, and handles and install them, and then I'll be done. In the meantime, the door is screwed into the door frame and securely in place.

you can see the wire fencing in the doorway in this pic from when I finished the chicken coop trim

Weekly Mileage
Monday- 10.00 miles on the bike
Tuesday- 1.75 miles on the treadmill
Wednesday- 10.00 miles on the bike
Thursday- 2.31 miles hiked
Friday- 2.83 miles hiked
Saturday- 4.11 miles walked and run outside
    total- 31.00 miles

7 hikes towards #52hikechallenge
1.10 kayak miles towards #365milechallenge

90.78 foot miles towards #365milechallenge
160.00 bike miles towards #365milechallenge
251.88 miles total

Sunday Funny

I took the kiddos kayaking recently, and we had to carry everything from the car to the beach. Ocean is a helpful little dude, so when he saw me carrying Sunshine's kayak, he decided he needed to help. He did a great job keeping the front of the kayak off the ground (he wasn't really supporting much weight since I was supporting the kayak at the midpoint). BUT, he could not walk a straight line. He kept weaving all over. So naturally I grabbed my camera and took a bit of video :)

Weekly Mileage #63

my cute little helper

So you know how I said last week that I wasn't going to let things derail my exercise plans? Well, I lied. But let's back up a bit first, since I did have a good start to the week.

Monday and Wednesday I rode my bike, 10 miles each day, which gives me my highest bike mileage week yet.

Tuesday I got my first kayaking mile of the year! I took the kiddos to the lake for park day and paddled the boys around in one of our inflatable two person kayaks. I wasn't sure how it would all shake out, but the boys did really well. They didn't try to climb out, which was a concern I had, though they did get a little bored. There may or may not have been a few requests to go back to shore so they could play in the sand. Kayaking around the small lake we were at wasn't as interesting as a river might have been. But that's part of the learning process, and the rivers are all too high and fast still. Sunshine paddled her little sit-on-top and had a good time as well.

I'd planned on taking the kiddos for a hike on Thursday, but this is where we got derailed. Wednesday afternoon my upper jaw started hurting and then the pain radiated into my sinuses and down to my lower jaw. I took some painkillers that helped a little, but Thursday morning I woke up still in pain. I called the dentist as soon as they opened but they didn't initially think they could squeeze me in, and were going to refer me elsewhere, but just before we hung up they had someone else cancel and thankfully I was able to get in that morning after all.

Why was I so quick to call the dentist? We'd gone in for our cleanings on Monday, and one of my teeth proved to be in need of a root canal. I'd gotten a filling a year ago, but it was very close to the nerve and while they didn't want to go straight to a root canal, they also weren't sure the filling would be successful. And it wasn't. It's been giving me problems off and on for the last year, so I wasn't surprised when the x-rays showed it was time for a root canal. We scheduled it for early August, which would give our insurance plenty of time to pre-authorize the procedure. 

the clips on the side are for the front seat that I removed, which gave the boys a lot more room to sit

I figure the poking and prodding that went on on Monday aggravated my tooth, causing the pain to flare up and speeding up the timeline. In any case, the root canal took care of the pain, but the anesthesia left me feeling fuzzy and blech. I'm not sure why, but local dental anesthesia always does this to me and I spent the rest of Thursday and Friday waiting for it to work its way out of my system. Which meant we didn't go for a hike on Friday either. 

Saturday morning however, my friend C and I finally went for a run. We haven't been able to match up our schedules for awhile, so it was nice to finally make it work. We ran about a mile and a half to two miles out of just over four miles, and it felt good. Hot and humid and sweaty, but good.

all the rain we've gotten has made everything so green

Even with getting derailed two days, I still managed to get more miles in one week than I've managed in a long time.

Weekly Mileage
Monday- 10.00 miles on the bike
Tuesday- 1.1 miles in the kayak
Wednesday- 10.00 miles on the bike
Saturday- 4.12 miles walked and run outside
    total- 25.22 miles

5 hikes towards #52hikechallenge
1.10 kayak miles towards #365milechallenge

79.78 foot miles towards #365milechallenge
140.00 bike miles towards #365milechallenge

Sunday Funny

On a recent Sunday morning, Mr M was at drill for the weekend, so I was getting the kiddos ready on my own. I got Ocean ready to go, then started to get myself dressed. While I was getting dressed, I heard the kitchen door slam. It took me a minute, and then I realized that Ocean must have escaped outdoors. I ran downstairs (with clothes on!) and found that Ocean had indeed gone outside, and had made a beeline for the nearest mud puddle. Clearly he had fun in that mud puddle. I was just glad I had extra clean Sunday clothes to quickly change him into.

May Mileage

gratuitous cute little boy pic :)

May was my highest mileage month so far this year, though it didn't feel like it- I was surprised when I added up all my miles. Just like in April, I did not run a race. Our schedule has just been too crazy and I wasn't feeling it. I've already run my June 5k, so at least I broke that no-race streak. With a half marathon coming up in September, I'm no longer allowed to slack off on my workouts or my races.

I spent more time than I'd like in May still fighting illness after illness, which made it too easy to skip the day's workout and work on one of my businesses instead. Re-committing to my workout schedule should break me of that less-than-helpful-for-my-fitness-level habit.

We were prepared to go on more hikes than we did, but the thunderstorms and rain made it difficult. Lightning strikes and flooded trails just don't do it for me, for some reason.

May mileage:              

4 treadmill workouts + 1 hike + 1 outside walk + 4 bike workouts = 49.95 miles

52 hike challenge: 5 hikes

365 mile challenge: 120.00 bike miles + 71.86 foot miles

April mileage:

1 treadmill workout + 1 hike + 1 outside walk + 6 bike workouts = 45.31 miles

52 hike challenge: 4 hikes

365 mile challenge: 85.0 bike miles + 56.91 foot miles

March mileage:

1 treadmill workout + 2 hikes + 1 outside walk + 1 race + 4 bike workouts = 33.43 miles

52 hike challenge: 3 hikes

365 mile challenge: 45.0 bike miles + 51.60 foot miles

February mileage:

0 treadmill workouts + 1 hike + 3 outside run/walk + 1 race + 0 bike workouts = 15.56 miles

52 hike challenge: 1 hike

365 mile challenge: 25.0 bike miles + 38.17 foot miles

January mileage: 

2 treadmill workouts + 0 hikes + 4 outside run/walk + 1 race + 3 bike workouts = 47.61 miles

52 hike challenge: 0 hikes

365 mile challenge: 25.0 bike miles + 22.61 foot miles

June 5k

We've had so much rain lately. Rain every day for a week, a week or so ago, then more rain followed by deluges that dumped even more rain on us this past week. We've had flooding and flash floods and all the rivers are running over their banks. Mud slides and road closures are an issue in some areas, but thankfully not in our immediate area.

We were supposed to do some kayaking on Wednesday with our history club, but we've had to postpone the trip until the water levels go down. Mr M couldn't go to work Thursday or Friday because the servers had been flooded. Thankfully, our house is on top of a hill, so we haven't had any flooding, though our gravel driveway is starting to look like some back woods road that might take out your muffler or oil pan.

In the middle of all this rain, on Tuesday I got hit with the worst migraine I've ever had. I'm not sure what triggered it, but it was bad. It was still hanging around on Wednesday, though not as bad, so I got on my bike and knocked out 10 slow miles. I felt better for getting some exercise and sweating, but the nausea and light sensitivity were still an issue.

On Thursday the migraine was still hanging around, so I went to the chiropractor and got an adjustment and some acupuncture beads in my ears. They've helped in the past, and they didn't let me down this time, either. That evening I walked on the treadmill while doing some work on my laptop. It had been awhile since I was last on the treadmill, and with a race on Saturday I wanted to get a few miles in.

Saturday I ran my June 5k, which makes it the 7th year in a row that I've run this race. This is nearly always a hot and humid day, but this year it wasn't quite as hot as some years (only around 70-75*). However, it was probably the highest humidity yet: ~90%. The forecast actually called for rain during the race, but the rain didn't come until an hour after I finished the race. There was so much sweating going on. I've run a lot of races over the years, but this was the first race where I actually could smell everyone's sweat as I walked around the finish area.

This was definitely not my fastest time on this course, though it also wasn't my slowest. That race was when I was 34 weeks pregnant with Ocean. Yeah, I am definitely out of shape. My mile times reflect the terrain of the course: the first half mile or so is downhill, which gives a good jumpstart before the inevitable slowing as you go back up that hill. The rolling hills that follow are just relentless, with no flat spots in between. After the race I walked around for .75 miles, trying to stretch everything out a bit after the unaccustomed exercise. I was only partially successful. My plantar fasciitis isn't as sore as I thought it would be, but my calves and thighs are making me go up and down the stair sideways because they're so sore. One more indication that it's been way too long...

I ran and walked 3.05 miles in 40:21.
1st mile: 11:29
2nd mile: 14:05
3rd mile: 14:25

2018  40:21, just me, but so out of shape
2017 33:46, just me!
2016 39:21, pushed Ocean in the jogger
2015 41:19, pregnant with Ocean (34 weeks)
2014 38:11, pushed River in the jogger
2013 40:02, pregnant with River (23 weeks)
2012 39:23, pushed Sunshine in the jogger

I really haven't done any running to speak of since the 10k I ran back in March, but this race felt pretty good. I could tell I hadn't run in forever, but it didn't feel awful to be running again, so that's always a plus. And it's a good jump-start to my half marathon training program. It's time to buckle down and start getting my miles in- there's only 14 weeks till my next half marathon. I've been letting too many things push my workouts to the back burner, and it's time for that to stop.

in the middle of the race you have the option of doing a portion of the course on a trail, or sticking to the pave road
I opt for the trail every chance I can (ie, when I'm not pushing a child in a stroller)

Weekly Mileage
Wednesday- 10.00 miles on the bike
Thursday- 3.22 miles walked
Saturday- 3.80 miles walked and run
    total- 17.02 miles

5 hikes towards #52hikechallenge

75.66 foot miles towards #365milechallenge
120.00 bike miles towards #365milechallenge

Sunday Funny

he was refusing to look at the camera, but check out those eyelashes!

A recent conversation with River as we went through the nightly bedtime routine:

River: Tooting helps me go poop.

Me: Yep, it does.

River: So does eating food.

Me (trying not to laugh): Yep.

Not sure what prompted this particular conversation, but it's hard to fault his logic. He wasn't wrong.