Race Time!

A little over 12 weeks ago, Max and I began training for the ING Hartford Half Marathon.  Last year, I was 9 months pregnant with Brayden, but Max ran the race as his first ever Half Marathon. I was so proud of the dedication he had in training, and he pulled in an awesome time for 1:49:02, which is awesome!

This year I decided to run the half and Max wanted to do it again too.

I wasn't really sure how it was going to go.  I barely ran while I was pregnant with B, I had him in the fall so there wasn't a whole lot of going out with the kids in the stroller to run or even walk over the winter. When I first started running, it was tough to even get a 10 minute mile.  I ran a 5k in April and it was tiring to get a sub-10-min mile!  So I started a training program and with the exception of about 10 miles total, I stuck with it!

In a totally not prideful/obnoxious way, I'm very proud of myself.  I worked hard to train and stick with it while working part-time and having two kids under two.  I am so thankful for my super supportive husband who watched the kids on my long run days and even came home early a few days for my 5 mile runs:)  I am very thankful for two kids who could handle running up to 4 miles with me, the rail trail near our house that made it easy to run with the kids even in the super hot weather of the summer, the random hills all over Trumbull that made my runs with and without a double jogger that much harder.

I had a goal when this all started of running a 2 hour race.  As we started to do some longer runs, something clicked and I was doing well. I thought, I might actually be able to run faster than 2:00!

Race day was perfect-beautiful weather and perfect temperature. Max and I are obviously competitive with each other, especially because I had been beating some of his training times the few weeks before, so we didn't want to see each other at the start-easily done because there were almost 9,000 people starting that race, if not more.  I had no clue if we started before me of behind me.  The first two miles went by so fast, as I was just trying to weave in and out of people. Surprisingly, I ran the first 4-5 miles faster than I thought, and I was thinking I should slow down because I didn't know if I could handle it, but then I just decided to keep going and if I got tired then I'd slow down.  At mile 11.5 I spotted Max up ahead. He had a foot injury going into this race so I wasn't sure how he was doing-I tapped his butt, saw he was in pain, told him not to be sneaky and sprint past me at the end, he said he was barely going to make it, and like the supportive sensitive wife that I am, I kept running:)  

I ended up with a time of 1:45:57, which was 8:06 min/mile-something I was very surprised I was able to accomplish.  This experience has gone to show me that we are capable of so much more than we can imagine.  

Despite losing toenails, running 200 miles in training, getting who knows how many blisters, consuming way too much Gu, and having to get up way too early for long runs, I'm so thankful for this experience! Now on to the next race:)

I knew it was going to be a good weekend when we saw these guys on the way up!

 Kinda a wasted weekend away with the whole specific dinner diet and early to bed thing, but I'll take it. (side note: we probably would have slept better at home thanks to the loud women next to us who came home at 2:30 and woke us both up for half hour!)

 Hartford was looking pretty:)

All of my bright gear

We had all of our Gu ready to go! Can you guess who had which row of flavors?

Sunrise over the city bright and early on race day!

There were around 18,000 people there racing and even more spectators. Lotsa of tight security and REALLY LONG lines for the bathroom!

People at part of the starting line. I didn't run with my phone, but I wish I had pictures of the actual start.

Post race pics:)

 Our race stats

When we got home that afternoon I had to run out for a bit and I came home to this.  He was tired:)

Flo-ri-da

We took our first family plane trip this past weekend to visit our dear friends, Torrey, Jay and their three kids in Florida.  This was the first time that we've taken either of the kids on a plane...I wasn't sure how Brayden would do, but both he and Tucker were great! We had an awesome time visiting with them and the weather was so nice-not too hot! Tucker had a wonderful time playing with Brady and Jack. Harper is an absolutely adorable cuddly baby! Brayden wanted to play with the big boys, but he was excited to see a little baby too:)

Checking out the view before we take off!

This little guy managed a 25 minute morning nap in the ergo! I was so thankful for smooth flights so that I could walk around the plane with him to get him to fall asleep!

This one was a piece of cake...snacks, "shows on" for 2 hours-including a whole hour of Bubble Guppies!  This never happens at home!

I love how kids and meet each other, even though they've talked on Skype (this is the first time recently that Tucker's seen Brady), they just get right into playing-and having sword fights!

We went to the Tampa Zoo on Friday.  This is my second time at this zoo, and I LOVE this zoo.  They have so many things to see and great attractions and things for the kids that are even included.

It was also cool to bring Tucker here because we came here when I was pregnant with him and he has pictures I took of the animals hanging on the wall of his room:)

First stop: Monkeys! 

Not sure what these guys are doing???

All the boys checking out the Kimodo Dragon

Clearly we had to go to the African section!

We got to go on a safari ride to see all the animals behind the scenes...totally included! Love it!

These birds were so funny...they kept strutting towards each other and then this one spread his wings...flirt!

Poor Brayden was exhausted...he lost it towards the end of the ride!  So thankful he will sleep for a bit in the ergo!

Rhino!

Tucker was most excited for the elephants (so he told us). He lucked out because he even got to see two baby elephants! He told everyone about them afterwards..so cute:)

I love the giraffes the best! Love how they both have different types of spots.

Baby Rhinos

Tucker wanted to make the Popovich family a family of 6 I guess!

 There was a sprinkler park/splash pad thing and Tucker was hesitant at first, but after he saw Brady and Jack dive in, he went buck-wild! For some reason he thought it was fun to put his face in the water shooting up! He could have played here all day...it was a challenge to get him to come eat lunch!

Also included...a little train ride!

Boys checking out the huge fish and sea turtles

We went to Brady's baseball game Saturday morning.  Tucker and Jack were more interested in collecting all of the moss that had fallen from the Spanish Moss trees-they are so pretty.  Brayden and Harper hung together:)

That's it...we're moving to Tampa!

Saturday afternoon we took the kids to this cool park with a splash pad and pier that looked out to the bay and the city.  Lots of fun stuff to do in Tampa!!

Sunday we went to church with the Pops. Tucker had no problem going to a class with Jack and Brayden did great in the nursery! That afternoon we went to their neighborhood park. So many great playgrounds and outdoor things to do!

Monday was another travel day. We actually got to see the planes before we left the airport (on the way down we got through security as we were boarding!). Tucker was freaking out! He was screaming "airplane" over and over! 

Thank you so much for having us for a visit Pop's! We had an absolutely blast spending time with you all and can't wait to visit again!!