Sunday, December 13, 2009

1:36:40, and damn proud of it

The race is in the books and with a time of 1:36:40. I'm extremely happy and satisfied with this time and my performance today. This transformation into an athlete has meant learning lots of things about myself for both preparation and on race day. I made what I thought was a complete list of things to do and check and be aware of. I watched for my markers during the race and did my systems checks the way I planned. Two things I didn't plan for and cost me, but should not disappoint me.

Chicago, and other races I've run, have had clocks at each of the mileage markers. I'm conditioned to look for those. This race, there were banners for the majority of the miles. I think there were only four clocks on the whole course. So when I was looking for markers to gauge how I was doing, they weren't there early on. Also, the Polar footpod I use needs to be put ON the shoes I will race in, calibrated on a track early in the week and then the rest of the training for the week be done in an alternate pair of shoes. The first two miles or so I thought I was on pace only to discover that I wasn't, and badly.

So where I planned for 7:25 for the first three miles, it really was more like 8:00. And that's an average of 8:00 because I think I ran the first two in 8:30 and then the third in 6:42 when I scrambled to get caught up.

But the rest of the race I averaged and did better than my goal. Even after having to dig out of that hole early, I was still putting down 6:58 - 7:05/mile in the last quarter of the race. Can't be anything but thrilled at that.

So the final tale of the tape told me that I done pretty damn good:

Chip time: 1:36:40
Overall finishing place: 308/7807 (top 4%)
Gender finishing place: 257/3452 (top 8%)
Age group finishing place: 33/616 (top 6%)

Once again, I cannot thank all of my family, coaches and friends enough for their encouragement, support, guidance and teaching as I begin this journey. And it really is only a beginning. I look forward to where the road takes me and sharing it all with you. My humble gratitude and love to each and every one of you.

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Half Marathon for Daddy!

I am in Dallas, Texas, getting ready to Run the Rock. This is the 40th year of the running of the race. They have both a half and full marathon that starts and finishes at the American Airlines Center right in downtown Dallas. I'll be running the half, part of the winter regimen of my training program that my coaches have me on.

The morning started a little frenetically. I had a 7:00 departure from Chicago and made it to the airport in enough time to use the remote lot and was riding the tram to the terminals. I flew United Express so according to the signage on the tram, it left from Terminal 2. So, I exit the tram, clear security and am looking for my departure gate and find the board.

If you know O'Hare's geography, you'll understand when I say that standing in front of the E gates at 6:30 with a 6:35 boarding time, I found out that I was leaving from not just Terminal 1, but the C concourse and gate C2. Couldn't have picked a further away place!

So, I do the OJ (the old Hertz commercials, not the cutlery thing) and book it to arrive JUST in the nick of time...for a plane that has been delayed. But I got here, took the ride in the Super Shuttle and all the itinerant joy that goes with it but for $17 it's well worth it. There is no public transportation to speak of from DFW to downtown and a cab ride would've probably run me around $45 or thereabouts. Each way.

Got my number and am kicking it at the Westin. Had a GREAT dinner tonight at a restaurant called Dali. Leave it to me to find a wine bar to have dinner at. Two weeks without refined sugar (other than a breakdown last Saturday night) and alcohol (no breakdowns) and I'm ready for tomorrow. My goal is 1:35:00 or better.

All the credit for this goes first to my family who have put up with me so kindly as I've found this new outlet. I sang barbershop for seven years with the New Tradition Chorus. It was a lot of fun and I stayed with them because I liked competing at a high level and being the best in the world at something. If my time holds tomorrow, I'll finish in the top 5% of all finishers for the half-marathon; quite the accomplishment. I've spent time on Google Maps reviewing the course, making notes, mnemonic devices (H&T Seafood, Free Long and GMC) for points on the race I need to be aware of to take inventory and evaluate my condition. As my love for triathlon and endurance and multi-sport life grows, I hope it sets an example for my children as they grow up about the importance of health and exercise. I feel like it's rubbed off with some people at my work as well who are getting healthy and I have the highest regard for their efforts as well.

And props as well to Steve, Val and Bob, three people who have been guiding me on this journey since the summer. The direction you provide provide me with opportunities I never dreamed I could possibly have, and with each new accomplishment comes a shared sense of gratitude. Major props to you all.

And with that, below is a little before bed musing. I missed Kelly's infamous annual Cookie Bake and Exchange today; and I'm sorry that I did. But I take solace in knowing I get to come home to a house full of cookies and YUM, YUM, YUM!

See you all at the finish line tomorrow. You can follow me online if you want right here.

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Meet Mr. Serious

Yep, he lives up to his nickname...Rylan is certainly a MR. SERIOUS at times. Even people who just meet him, comment on his serious thoughtful face.Comtemplating the world, he is...
But don't let him fool you..he knows how to have a great time!
And smiling is also his expertise!
Oh how we love this little guy and he has been a wonderful addition to our family.
Three months old he is...and still a very, very happy baby!
He loves to tell lots of stories, do a reverse (inhale) giggle, suck on his hands, smile, watch people around him and watch his big sister in amazement. Hard to believe three months have gone by, but then again it feels like he has been with us oh so much longer!

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Way to Run it Scott!!!!



This past weekend Scott participated in a local Turkey Trot and blasted off a new record personal time! Three {+.2} miles in 20 minutes and 45 seconds!! That's averaging six minute miles!! HOLY MOLY!! Really??? WowIE!!! Way to go honey..you continue to AMAZE!!!

Scott was 28th out of 517 people. 6th in his age group!!
The places in his age group were:

1st: 16:45
2nd: 17:00
3rd: 17:54
4th: 18:34
5th: 20:20
Scott: 20:45

We are so PROUD OF YOU!! Makenna is already talking about running with Mommy (who runs much, much slower!) and Daddy! Thank you for being a wonderful example for our family! Keep on breaking those personal records. We'll support you 100%. xoxo

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

{{Halloweeeeen 2009}}

Wow...did we have an awesome, fun Halloween! Holidays with kids is the best and with Makenna Claire totally into the day(s), it was a blast. MC decided on each of our costumes a month and a half ago and she never wavered. So we were a happy family of animals and a chef!

Meet our cute little elephant..

RRRRRRRRR....
And R got into it too...hee,hee....So you say you want CANDY?????
And have you ever met a cuter FROG??
NOPE, I didn't think SO!
BOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! Do they frighten you????

SO SO MUCH FUN!!!!

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Apple Cider Century

Another Michigan weekend, 100 miles in the saddle, another year of success, and a day full of wonderful memories.

Congratulations Scott, Brad and DeChantel...you guys rocked!!!
{turn off the playlist at the bottom prior to viewing}

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

SWEET baby Boy..

Are you really one month old already? It's hard to believe that the time has gone by that fast but at the same time, you seem to have been part of our family for so long already. Has it really only been 31 days? What a contradiction, I know!

When I was pregnant with you, I knew I would be just as happy with another girl as I would with a boy...but now that I have YOU, my life seems that much sweeter to have my sweet little boy. I can't wait to share life with you and watch you explore the world and develop into the person you will become. But meanwhile, I will just love the baby that you are...your little toes, your fingers that wrap around my shirt and finger, your little head that snuggles into my body just right, your precious eyes that capture my heart with one look. Really, could you be that perfect?...Yes, you are, my sweet Rylan.


At one month, you are 22 inches long and are back to your birth weight of 9 pounds and 4 ounces. You can hold up your head for long periods of time and love to look at lights and faces. You can focus on us when we talk to you and we know a smile is just beckening to come through one day soon. You are content unless you are hungry or have the hiccups and love to be snuggled and held. You don't really care for the swing too much but love to be held close in the sling. You are such a good baby and we enjoy you every day.
And even when those ugly hiccups emerge, and cause you such freight, you are still so cute.
It's okay, Rylan...we are here to LOVE you until the hiccup monster goes away! xoxo

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Govt Affairs Conference: Daddy goes to Washington

Last Saturday, I had to go to Washington, DC, for our annual government affairs conference for work. I also had board meetings to attend to as well. Because of the nature of the meeting, I left on Saturday and it was go-go-go through Wednesday night when I came home.

On Tuesday, we visited Capitol Hill to speak to members of the Illinois Congressional delegation on issues about our work. In between those meetings, I managed to sneak a tour of the Capitol which was guided by a staffer for my Congresswoman, Judy Biggert.

The Capitol is AMAZING. I also was fortunate to meet the work Congressman for my office, Mike Quigley, who won the special election to fill Rahm Emanuel's seat. I actually went to college with his Chief of Staff, who also lived in my dorm. The universe shrinks once again.

Pictures below.

Friday, September 18, 2009

Meet Rylan Thomas!







We couldn't be more in love with this little guy and he is such a wonderful addition to our family. Being a family of four now is so wonderful and we are loving every day. It's hard to believe he is going to be one month old this weekend...why oh why does time have to go by so quickly??!! He is a very good baby...appears to have a laid back, go with the flow personality and is becoming more awake and alert each day. He adores being held, loves his baths and only really fusses with his frequent occurring hiccups {hello pacifier ;)}. Makenna Claire loves having "baby Rylan" as her "little brother" and just can't give him enough kisses during the day. We couldn't feel more fortunate for these two little gifts of love!

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Sibling Admiration and Such LOVE!

Hello little brother....hello big sister!!!
After Mommy and Daddy, Makenna Claire was the first to hold "Baby Rylan" and she couldn't of been more ecstatic. And today, over 3 weeks later, she is still beaming and just adores the little guy.

Can you see the Awww!
And the firsts of many daily kisses Rylan gets from his big sis.

He's "so beautiful!" Makenna saids multiple times a day, everyday.
Yes he is, and so is his Big Sister.
Welcome home little brother. This is just the beginning of the magical relationship between a sister and a brother. What a gift you have in each other.
REALLY, can we get any luckier...I think not..my heart is full of happiness, love and pure joy.
xoxo

Monday, September 7, 2009

I know I have been a bad blogger and many of you are patiently waiting to see the many promised pictures of sweet Rylan, and they are coming...I promise! We have just been busy being Mommy and Daddy to our wonderful two children, enjoying the moments and cherishing the time because we know it goes by so quickly. And yes, also trying to find the time to rest, sleep, and keep up with the daily chores. Now that I have a few moments to spare, before I tuck myself in for much needed sleep, I am here to add a few photos.

So here's a few to wet your palate, and I will try and add more as the days go on! Thank you for your patience and I won't let you down!

Aug. 20..One last photo shoot of the belly profile! 4:45 am right before leaving for the hospital!


At the hospital, waiting my turn for the operating room, but enjoying passing the time with our families. One more snuggle....Me and our sweet little girl who was about to become a big sister. She was so excited and was sure she was going to have a little brother!A family of three, about to be four!!
OR Beauty...hee,hee...aren't we cute???
And welcome little boy!! Minutes old, in my arms....We love you so much already lil Rylan!!!
Stay tuned!! Nighty night...

A word from dad to anybody who reads this...

Well, two words.

Thank you.

Two words, eight letters (if you don't count the space and the period) and they cannot even begin to touch on how I feel for everybody who has been part of our great adventure called life and especially the last two and a half weeks.

Thank you to our doctor, Dr. Heimburger, of DuPage Medical Group. He delivered Makenna and we've been working with him for the past four years or thereabouts and we followed him to Central DuPage Hospital to deliver Rylan because he's that good and we're that comfortable with him.

Thanks to the nurses in Labor & Delivery, Recovery and on the Mother / Baby unit at CDH. You love your work, you love your patients and it shows. This was our "second time around," not to imply it makes it any easier in the surgical post-op, but your attentiveness to Kelly and Rylan and insuring their care was top notch is greatly appreciated.

Thanks to the members of the Mom's Club who have been providing us meals for the past two weeks and continuing through this week. It has been a wonderful parade of people sharing food from their kitchens and hearts and making the bringing-the-new-baby-home pandelerium a little less hectic. Plus, the leftovers have meant that we've really not been lacking food at any time and that's one less thing to have to think about.

Thanks to all of our friends and friends of friends and family who have been so generous to Rylan and Makenna. The youngster is outfitted for at least the next six months or so, and that's assuming that he reaches Diva status pretty quickly and has multiple costume changes daily. Given his pooping frequency and strange means by which his clothes seem to be attracted to said poop, we'll give the wardrobe a workout.

Thanks to my family who have been so kind and generous with your time and gifts and love for us and Makenna and, unsurprisingly, with the addition of Rylan. Whether Ga-Ga and Pop-Pop and Auntie Kellie taking Makenna for an overnight, or "Unclebraddechantel" [Makenna runs it together] taking her to Chuck E. Cheese for an afternoon, or Nana watching the little guy so Kelly and I could have a grown-up night out on Saturday at Francesca's, or the wonderful decorations we came home to find after four days in that nice but still tiny box of a hospital room, my eternal thanks and love.

To Makenna, who I knew would be my personal project for these two weeks and the first couple of days home was a foreign hellion unknown to any of us, but quickly adapted to Rylan, I love you. Daddy and Makenna have had two great weeks together with all kinds of adventures and outings and trips and fun...daddy's got to go back to work tomorrow, so Mommy's in charge of nap time again. And I leave Saturday for Washington for five days, so be good to her at bedtime too, okay? You're an awesome big sister, you're a great daughter and laugher and the light of your daddy's eye.

And to the most important person in the world...my lovely bride. For the gift of you. For the nine months you nutured and cared for and watched out for that little guy inside of you (and you knew it was a boy...why didn't I listen after Makenna?) who made his grand appearance on the 20th of August forever changing our lives again for the better, my heartfelt and eternal love. The new chapters we write for the book of us are always full of exciting twists and turns and I could think of nobody better than you to walk that path with. To the moon and back...

So tomorrow, back to work. But certainly not now (nor ever) back to the way it was before I left.

Dancer? Gymnast? Gymnast.

Well, tomorrow is back to work day for me. It has been a magnificent few weeks at home with Kelly, Rylan and Makenna. The first week, Makenna and I spent a lot of time trying to get out and about giving Kelly and Rylan some time together as well as giving Kelly time to rest and recover from her surgery.

So there's a place near the house that had open gymnastics on Friday mornings. Makenna and I went and she was a natural. She bounced, she jumped, she ran...we were about 50/50 on the "swing on the trapeze into the pit of blocks", but couldn't get it on camera.

Enjoy a child's pure joy with an hour and a half of playtime.

And yes, unsurprisingly, she slept well that afternoon.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Train date with daddy

I realize that the photos of our family are going to be a little out of sequence, especially as I'm posting THIS now with pictures of Rylan Thomas taken previously to follow (as well as video), but the truth be told, it's been a full time job splitting duty.

Kelly has been Rylan's full time partner and job. This means that daddy and Makenna are having a LOT of quality time together over these two weeks that I am home, Kelly is recovering and we're adjusting. It also means that most of the action has to happen late at night (as everybody is snuggled in their beds).

Today, I took Makenna for her first train ride. She's been fascinated with them, even though she has less than zero use for Thomas the Train on television. They capture her attention when we're at the French Market in Wheaton and when she and we have dinner with Gaga and Pop-Pop along the tracks in Westmont and LaGrange, she wants to watch them all go by.

So we woke up and headed to the Metra station in Naperville, took a half-hour ride to LaGrange which she adored tremendously and walked around a while. We had lunch at Knead Market and then caught the train back and were home in time for a four hour nap. She's been on the go pretty hard the last four days or so, it was an overdue extended nap (she woke up around 6:30).

We're all doing well and you'll continue to see pictures of the family and Rylan in the days and weeks to come. It's all about finding the time.




Friday, August 21, 2009

Welcome Rylan Thomas!!

Our little baby boy made his entrance into the world yesterday, August 20 at 10:34 am.
Rylan weighed 9 pounds and 4 ounces and is 21 inches long. He is doing great and we are enjoying every precious moment with him. Makenna Claire already loves him so much and has eagerly adapted to the big sister role to "baby Rylan". Many, many more pictures to come but here is a glimpse of our sweet little boy.

And here is the video of the announcement made to our family. It's great.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Video from the car with Makenna

Mommy and the peanut had a few conversations about the new baby. As toddlers can be, she's just stupid cute.



Baby Eve!!!

Baby Case will be making his or her debut tomorrow morning!!! Stay tuned for the exciting news..we can't wait to meet our new child and for Makenna Claire to become a BIG SISTER! Scott will be dispatching pictures from the hospital! xoxo

Monday, August 10, 2009

WE ARE SOOO PROUD!!!!!!!

SCOTT FINISHED HIS FIRST OLYMPIC DISTANCE TRIATHOLON YESTERDAY AND DID WONDERFULLY DESPITE THE HOT, HOT HUMID DAY!!!!!!!!!!

Way to go!!! And the thing is, he looked awesome doing it! After months of hard work, lots of time and dedication, Scott's training paid off and we couldn't be more proud of him!

Here is a few pictures to highlight his success.
MC waiting on Nana's shoulders to catch a glimpse of Daddy transitioning from the water to the bike. Having been to a few events before, she knew exactly what to do. Chanting, "go, Daddy, go"..she even had the crowd smiling at her adorableness!
Scott coming in from the water...
And quickly transitioning to the bike...
Here we are waiting for Scott to circle around in his bike with MC holding her sign she helped create.
And now Scott is coming in from the bike, to transition to his running shoes....
And with ease, and very very hot, coming to the finish line after running the very hilly terrain.

Here's his official results.. Congratulations Honey!! YOU are one amazing person and thank you for being a great example on being healthy and continually challenging yourself! You ROCK!!!!!

Friday, August 7, 2009

YEA for Jammie Friday and boy is that piggy HUNGRY!!

Makenna and I have had a busy, busy summer between all of our activities, playgroup and classes. It has been a lot of fun but I can't even think of the last day we just stayed home all day and lounged. Well, kinda anyways, since I have been cleaning and doing laundry throughout the day. It still has been nice and quite a treat! We have called it Jammie Friday and celebrated the day! And yes we are still in our jams, and it's 4pm...:)!!

Makenna spotted my wallet and guess who was hungry? Yep, without hesitation Piggy made immediate appearance and all my change quickly went into his belly.


And that made for one happy little girl!
When my wallet was empty, she said to me..
"Mommy, need to go shopping for more coins please. Kenna needs more"
Out of the mouth of babes, and if it was only that easy, right?

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Little Fish, little fish...

Makenna Claire finished up her second set of swimming lessons today and she has become quite the little fish! With our first class, she loved being in the pool but was very hesitant to put her face in the water and cried with great fright when she was dunked. When she knew she had to go under water, she would cry, "no, mommy no under wager (water)!! " and look at me with such great anticipation with those baby blue eyes of hers. I have to tell you, it broke my heart. However, the teacher recognized what a strong willed child MC is (who, MC.....Yep, she had her number!!) and told me to just stick with it and she will get better. And boy has she!
Now she is jumping into the water, splashing Mommy with great gusto.
She is paddling and kicking short distances to the wall..
She is putting her face under water to blow bubbles..
And showing her bravery by putting her head back in the water by herself.
Even successfully torpedoing under water (!!!!!) to the side of the pool. All done with smiles, a sense of accomplishment and proudness. MC, all you need in life is your confidence and you will go soo far!

Thanks Nana for the great pictures! MC was lucky to have Gaga, Auntie Kellie and Nana at her last swim class today to see her perform all her skills. She was so excited to show off at the end of class and demonstrate all her new talents. We are all proud of you Makenna Claire! Way to go!!! xoxo