Sick Again & Guess Who’s Walking

3-Miles Easy Run – COMPLETED

Oh, hi again, Monday! I would love a Monday (or any day really ) where I don’t start off like, “I’m so tired!” At least we had a semi-good weekend. Here’s quick breakdown.

On Friday, I headed over to my in-law’s house. I had a 20-mile run on the schedule — the last 20-mile run till NYC in November. I had the route memorized and gave P the post-it. He absolutely hates when I have to do long runs alone.

20 Mile Route

As soon as I dropped Sebastian off, I headed right out the front door and started out my run. I was trying to just run the mile I was in, but then I kept replaying the route in my head — “Okay, Lehigh Ave is a real boring 1.5-mile road…” At each fuel break, I made sure to just text P to let him know exactly where I was and how I was feeling. I also text Cici just to keep her in the loop. Unfortunately, the weekend was cramped for the both of us so we knew we wouldn’t be running together. 😦

I ended up changing the route a little last minute and running 2-miles in the park to add out the mileage before heading back to my in-law’s. It worked out better that way.

20-Miles: Done & Done

It started to get real warm out so I finished just in time. I was feeling a tad sore — ended up just laying out on the grass. My in-laws and Sebastian come outside and hang out with me for a bit.

Walking with abueli

They were both dressed up like they were getting ready to leave so I jumped into the shower, changed and came back down. I was SO tired and a little hungry. We hung outside for a bit and then sat in the kitchen and I had some coffee and a snack. Then my in-laws headed out but Sebastian gave a yawn so I let him sleep and I even closed my eyes for a bit. By the time we knew it, school was about to let out, so we left a little on the earlier side to pick Lili up.

Waiting for Sis

She was ready by 2:30 and we walked over to the supermarket next to the school. I had to pick up a few things as we had company coming for dinner. By the time I got home, I was EXHAUSTED! I did not want to do anything. I did not want to cook. I did not want to do laundry. I just wanted to lay down. BUT, by 5PM, I knew I needed to get something done. So I started the lentils and I started the tortilla. P got home around 6 and then I fed the kids. Shortly after, he stopped to pick up his girlfriend, Marian. She is so sweet. She moved out to San Francisco but has been back in the area for a job. We were lucky to have seen her three times! 🙂 And yet, we didn’t get a pic with her — instead she took a pic of us.

Mi Familia

The angle of this picture makes Sebastian look enormous. LOL and yes, both kids were a big ball of crank at this point. They just wanted to go to sleep. Anyhow, by the time they went down, I hung out with P and Marian and then Marian finally left around 11 and P and I hung out till 12:30. Late night.

Saturday, I woke up early with the kids and Lili felt a tad warm. I checked her temp and it was around 99. They ate breakfast and then I checked her temp again before dance. It went back down to 98 so we decided to go to dance. It was raining out — not fun. We got to dance on time. Lili was less than thrilled to be there, but I think she just needs to get used to it. Plus, she missed out two times in a row, so that didn’t help.

Sour Pus Face

It started to down pour while we were at dance — stopped a bit after — but then strong here and there. Not a nice day. We picked up breakfast for P and then headed home. After breakfast, we started to clean up the living room and decided to take down the gates because guess who’s walking now? Well, he’s been taking steps here and there, but now he’s pretty much walking and the gates being up doesn’t give him enough room to walk around. I also started the laundry. Then I took Lili’s temp again and it was 101.6. So we gave her medicine. The kids napped and then when they woke up, we just hung around and played and watched movies. Lili was still feverish so no bath for her — just a sponge bath and then they went into bed.

My sick babe

Sunday, I left P sleep in. The kids and I hung out. Lili’s temp was back to normal but she was congested. Not happy. Especially with everything that’s going on with the Enterovirus. P finally woke up around 10 and we all ate breakfast. We cleaned up some more and the kids just played. It was a nice day out — breezy and fall-like, but Lili was still not well. So we just stayed in.

Just hangin’

I tried to take a nap with the kids but when Sebastian was waking up, Lili was going down. Not a good transition. P was going to take S for a bit but he was taking too long so I just got up. I ended up preparing dinner. We decided to come up with a menu each week (thanks, Cici):

Sunday: Meatloaf, Mashed and Mac and Cheese. (I don’t need meatloaf).
Monday: Chicken Parm
Tuesday: Leftovers
Wednesday: Pot Roast and Mashed/Baked Potato.
Thursday: Burgers
Friday: Burritos + Arroz Con Pollo
Saturday: Leftovers

We ate dinner on the earlier side and then I cleaned up. I also prepped the chicken for tonight’s dinner.

Leftovers!!!

I also made my oats in a jar and added pumpkin granola cereal from Trader Joe’s.

Oats in a Jar

Kids had their bath, I packed for my run today, folded the rest of the laundry, hung out with P and then to bed!

We kept Lili out of school for one more day. I knew she was very tired still and very congested. I really hope she gets better soon. I’ve gotten updates that she’s not coughing (thank GOD), no fever (YESSSS) but just a runny nose. She’s also eating, and that’s a good sign.

Do you meal plan for the week? Do you eat leftovers during the week?

I am trying to meal plan regularly because I hate coming home not knowing what I’m going to have for dinner. If it were up to me, I could eat leftovers or something simple. But I live with very picky eaters — so you know how it goes.

Do you nap during the weekend? I wish we had nap time at work. Though, I am sure I could get away with napping in my car during lunch if I were really tired.

Indian Summer: Part II

3:00 PM: Track Workout – PENDING 5.20-Miles (1.2-Mi WU; 5k @7:53; 8:11; 8:08) 1-Mi CD – COMPLETED

I have had a track workout on tap! I don’t know why but those give me butterflies… We’ll see how I do. A trial 5k! Eek.

Getting back to my weekend (I know… when does it end?), I woke up close to 5 on Saturday morning to fuel and get ready for our 20-mile run. Cici was kind enough to meet in my neck of the woods since I was on a time crunch — I totally forgot that I had my mom’s hospital NICU picnic event. She reminded me when I stopped by on Thursday afternoon. So we got started right at 7:40 AM. It was going to be another HOT day. I was too lazy to map out a new route (on top of having to memorize it), so I used the route that we used on our first 20-miler.

2-=Mile Route

The first mile I had a huge cramp in my stomach. We slowed it down a bit and after a mile and change, it subsided until mile 16. I told Cici to go ahead at mile 18 as I felt like I was going to vomit. I just slowed it down and tried to keep it together. We got to the house and I was DONE! I still felt like I was going to vomit. Cici ended up just hanging on my stoop and 5 minutes later I went in, almost vomited but that faded. I showered, got the kids ready, got dressed and headed over to my mom’s house to scoop her and my niece up. We were off to the picnic.

Playground Fun

I was SO tired and my entire body was SORE. I hardly sat (except to eat) and carried Sebastian most of the time too. By 3:15 we were finally heading home. I laid on my parents couch and seriously, it took me nearly 2 hours to peel off of that couch and go home. We ate dinner, I gave the kids a bath and then to sleep.

Sunday morning, we woke up bright and early. I did a core/strength workout and then made breakfast. I showered and got the kids dressed before heading over to the pumpkin patch down the street. We were meeting with some friends.

Hayride Fun

We had a great time!

Wish that P came with us but he was exhausted. He said next Saturday we would do something fall-like with the kids.

After the hayride, I headed over to my parents house to pick up my brother and his girlfriend. We were heading over to the Annual Guinness & Oyster Festival down south in Red Bank. It didn’t start until noon but we wanted to get a head start. Good thing we did — there were so many people there it took us an hour and 10 minutes to get there and park. We were able to find a good parking spot too. 🙂

Bubbles

We really missed Mimi!!! I’m glad she called to see what we were up to last minute. She has been so busy with her last semester of nursing school, BTW, she just got back her first exam and it was a 92!!!! So exciting. I can’t wait till she’s done. We miss her so much.

We got some food and hydrated because it was SO hot.

By 2:30, we were DONE. We headed back to the car and home, but first we stopped for ice-cream and iced coffees at Dunkin Donuts/Baskin Robins. Then we dropped off EJ and Mimi and headed home.

P was hungry, so I started dinner and while dinner was simmering, the kids and I painted the pumpkins we bought.

And Sebastian’s first pumpkin painting event.

Unfortunately, he would rather eat it all: the pumpkin, the paint and the paint brush. Not fun for him or myself.

And that was our weekend in a big nutshell. 🙂

I can’t believe tomorrow is OCTOBER!!!! It’s my favorite time of the year. I love Halloween and boots! My two favorites.

Are you dressing up for Halloween? Any costumer races?

Long Run, Tempo, Track, Trails, Easy; Which one do you like best? I think I like track workouts the best. or Long Runs? Who am I kidding. I like them all.

Oh hey there, September

11:30 AM: 3-Miles – COMPLETED

Oh boy, is it HOT! I mean, we can’t complain with the summer we’ve had. It’s been almost close to perfect. A lot of nice sunny days that weren’t too hot. The weather this week is going to be a bit humid but hopefully by the weekend it will cool down. Or, that’s what I’m hoping.

HOTTTTTTT

Though, I cannot believe that summer is officially over (well, okay, not officially over since fall doesn’t officially start until September 22nd). We spent our last summer weekend as productive as we could be.

On Friday, I had to work (as you saw), but I got out by noon and I was able to get some food shopping before relieving Mimi of her babysitting duties. I can’t express how grateful I am to her and how awesome she is, but also, HOW MUCH WE WILL MISS HER!!! As she drove away, we all teared up and waved bye. I sat on the front stoop with the kids to enjoy some of the nice, sunny weather.

Getting the weekend started.

Sebastian’s at the age where he does not want to sit still. You can’t turn your back or he’ll fall or throw himself over. Also, he likes to put everything and anything into his mouth. I’m pretty sure he’s eaten paper a few times.

Sneaky Superboy

We decided to go for a walk for a bit and I overestimated how far of a walk the park would be for Lili.

Out for a Stroll

It’s about .65-mi one way and I thought that it might be too much for Lili with the heat. So we did about a half hour walk and my shoulders couldn’t take it. I don’t know how some people could baby-wear for long periods. We got back home and went inside for a snack. As soon as P got home, (on the earlier side), I prepped dinner (burgers) and then waited a bit before serving. (I also had chicken in the crockpot but didn’t end up eating it… I mainly made it so I could prepare croquettas, which I didn’t get done).

Los adoros

Chick in a Pot

I baked some cookies for dessert too.

Mmmm, Cookies.

We ate dinner on the earlier side and since I knew Lili skipped a nap, I gave them a bath and put them to bed by 7:30. They were both EXHAUSTED and mama needed a beer like you wouldn’t believe.

Pumpkin Beer

I forgot what it was like to work 5-days a week. I missed the kids so much. I also am excited about PUMPKINS!!! Love, LOVE, Love FALL! And yes, I had a beer every single night this weekend.

What else did we do? We started laundry — THREE loads Friday night, done and done.

Saturday, I woke up and did MORE laundry. Yup. That’s what was on the agenda. We woke up and I made breakfast. I folded laundry and CLEANED out the closets. We had TWO big bags to donate and by 2:45 we headed over to drop them off in a bin and headed over to the mall.

Fun at the Mall

We got home from the mall by 7:30 (pretty late) and we were all exhausted. I whipped up something fast for the kid’s to eat but P wanted sloppy joes so that took a bit longer. He ended up eating while I put the kids to bed (around 8:45). EXHAUSTING. I woke up and laid out running clothes and then called it a night — after another beer.

Sunday, woke up and pumped, then made the kids breakfast, fed them and headed out the front door by 9. I met up with Cici at the lake and we did a quick loop around the lake before headed out for an out and back. We were scheduled for 10-12 and decided to do 5 one way and if we were feeling good, we would do another mile around the lake. By the 5.1 I was still feeling good. Cici suggested we turn around (thank goodness) and headed back. Around mile 7 I started feeling it… it was almost like I was overheating. I had to walk a few times. We stopped at the Krausers to get cold water and there was even a point where I thought I was going to ask her to run back and get the car. But I toughed it out — thank GOD for Cici — and we were DONE. The humidity was unreal.

10-Miles – DONE and DONE

Happiness

Good times. We talked a bit and parted ways. I picked up breakfast/brunch for us and then took a quick cold shower. S was napping and Lili fought it. We ended up doing some arts and crafts with the leftover egg carton that we had.

Egg Carton Crafts

Let’s do this Mom

We haven’t really had time to do arts and crafts so it was fun. I figured a nice project would be making cards for Grandparents Day.

Happy Grandparents Day

It’s on Sunday, the 8th. We had leftover pieces left so we made caterpillars.

We had a great time. Pedro had his Fantasy Football drafts so he was preoccupied. I watched a few movies on the kindle in bed and called it a night.

Yesterday, we woke up early and I made pancakes for breakfast.

Breakfast

And guess who likes turkey bacon??

Mmmm… Bacon!

I also made banana bread with leftover bananas we had.

Lili and Sebastian literally ate half of a mini loaf. It was so good. I sent a loaf to my in-laws also. 🙂

We had a great weekend altogether. Wish it didn’t have to end so soon. At least it’s a 3-day workweek for me. It might be the same next week also. I’m still debating if I will take a full day off next Monday as Lili starts school. Eek.

Happy Tuesday. Hope everyone had a wonderful labor day.

Who else is excited about Fall?

Do you drink beer? What’s your favorite one? 

Long Runch & Another Birthday

10-Mile Run – COMPLETED

I took a long lunch today. Yes, I did. And with that long lunch, I did a longer run. It was perfect running weather, albeit strong winds, the sun was out so it didn’t make it feel cold.

Passsss the Bottle

I am looking forward to a glass of wine and some french fries…

Today’s my FIL’s Birthday. Yes, two days after my MIL’s. But we’re not really sure if that’s really his birthday. He was born in Spain during the war and well, it took them days to get his birth certificate.

HBD

We are stopping by there to greet him. Hopefully not too long but I will most likely have my glass of wine there.

Keeping this short because I have so much work to do. HA! I think I’ll be done by 5.

Files, Files and Files…

What’s the longest you’ve run at lunch? Before today’s long run, the longest I’ve ran was 8-miles — but again, I took longer.

Anybody else have tan-lines from their runs yet? I’m terrible, I haven’t used sunblock and I get dark FASSSSST.

Weekend Fun & OB Updates

In a nutshell, the weather was perfect and it was spent with no other than my favorite people, family and my solemate. We were getting 70s from Tuesday on and it was just gorgeous. So, I made sure to take Lili to the park at least one of the days (which happened to be last Thursday).

Down the Slide

I met up with my BIL and niece, Scarlett, and guess who isn’t afraid of the slide anymore since she’s been practicing at home? Yes, that’s right. Lili is loving it. We were at the park for a good hour and a half until we headed home. I gave Lili a bath and then she was K-N-O-C-K-E-D out. Gotta love wearing them out.

Friday was great. It was beautiful out and guess who got out of work at 3. Yours truly. So I promised my friend that I’d meet up with him to pick out an engagement ring for his girlfriend. Exciting stuff here.

What girl wouldn’t want to try on diamonds for fun? I kept saying, “YES. I’LL MARRY YOU!!!” But yeah, it wasn’t for me. We went to two places as I told him it would be good to compare prices and then he picked out a nice piece of diamond. He’s proposing today. Shhhh…

After ring shopping, I picked up Lili, hung out with my parents and then headed home. We ended up ordering dinner and just playing with a bunch of her toys. Usual bedtime routine and she was knocked out.

Saturday morning, I woke up bright and early with Lili. We ate breakfast and played for a bit. I finally put her down for a nap at 9:50 and headed over to the lake to meet Celeste. I was a bit apprehensive about our run since the longest distance I’ve done on the road (not including the 10-mile trail a few weeks ago) post-marathon would be that day. I hadn’t done a long road run in forever. So yeah, I had jitters — also, I felt like I had been slowing down all week with my runs (anywhere from a 9:55 min/mi-10:05 min/mi). I know, I’m pregnant — but it is still hard to not notice. Anyhow, at mile 3 I had to pee, so we stopped but after that, it was a breeze. I once looked at my watch and saw that we were flying with an 8:55 min/mi pace and was feeling amazing. We did great. 10.15 miles at an average pace of 9:24 min/mi. I’ll take it!

Running with my Solemate

Post-run, I picked up food, headed home, ate lunch, went food shopping with Lili and then picked up P’s prescription. It was a long day.

Sunday was lunch with my in-laws for their birthdays. It was a great day to grill. The kids had a ton of fun (and by kids that includes me).

Getting ready to party.

Hopscotch Tournament

When we got home, Lili and I took a nap. I woke up, made dinner and then we decided we weren’t all that hungry. So it looks like we have leftovers for tonight, which means, mama doesn’t have to cook.

Of course, that means no yard work was done OR house chores. Whoops. It was a great weekend regardless.

I had my visit with the OB this morning. Of course I 30-minutes late to work. We got caught up talking about her run in Boston — turns out she was at mile 25.7 when she got redirected. In fact, she said she was the first one to get redirected and showed me her watch that stopped at 4:09 (exact time at the finish line when the explosions went off). She said they would bring blankets over and she waited an hour and a half and still didn’t come. Buses were supposed to come; that didn’t happen. So she walked in the direction of what she thought might be the finish line. And she found it. Thank goodness. It was supposed to be her last Boston Marathon but her son told her that she can’t let that be the last one. So she’s on a mission to figuring out if she can qualify again. Wish her luck!

As for my appointment, all is well. I gained 3 lbs. so far, B/P was right on target and baby’s heartbeat is beating strong. I got the okay to run a 5-mile race on Sunday (I ran this race 32-weeks pregnant with Lili) and she knows about my half marathon in three weeks. She also might come to either run the 5 mile race with me or spectate — as long as she doesn’t have any deliveries. We’ll see.

Next up, the anatomy scan. It’s also the point in which we could find out the sex but we’re planning not to find out, again… It was definitely harder with Lili, but this time around, I’m not really itching to find out.

If you had a baby, did you find out the sex? If you were planning, would you want to find out?

I remember with Lili, 90% of people thought it was a boy, including myself. It took me a good week after she was born to realize I had given birth to a baby girl. I was incredibly happy, but still in shock.

A Change of Luck

6:45 AM: Strength & Core (45-Minutes) – COMPLETED

Why do the weekends go too fast? I’m hoping that next week will go as slow as molasses. Quick recap: Friday, was just a sad, sad day in America. My heart weighs heavy for the families in Newtown, CT. The only thing I wanted to do was go home and hug Lili. On top of her being sick and having to care for her, I really hugged her extra hard that night.

Mi Vida

Stolen shots are always the best kinds.

Saturday morning, we woke up early and Lili was still sick, so my plans to run outdoors with the jogger was a no go. I ended up getting on the tread for 3-miles while Lili ran around. Then I did a good 45-minuts interval workout (strength/core).

I run: Baby plays.

I allowed Pedro to sleep in because he had no clue that tomorrow morning he’d have baby duty at 7:30 AM. He woke up close to 11:45 and then I jumped in the shower. I fed Lili and then put her down to nap at 1:15. At 1:45, I headed out to a holiday party at my part-time job It was my 15th Christmas party with them (since 1998).

Tammy & I

Spanish food

Food was delicious and I even won $2.00 off the scratch off that she gives us. It was a fun 3-hours, but I was ready to get home to the family.

When I got home, I had to feed P and Lili. Lili also got some Christmas gifts from my boss.

Mistletoe

Oh, I gave her a bazillion and one kisses since she was wearing mistletoe.

Hollywood.

She was digging these sunglasses. She also got a tutu, crayons, stickers, ornaments, etc. She was happy.

The rest of the night went okay. I laid out my running clothes, tried to put Lili to sleep, etc., etc. I slept way too late and almost canceled my run, BUT I didn’t want to cheat myself.

I met up with the girls at 7:45. We were following my sister’s schedule (10-miles at 10:30-10:44 min/mi pace and 2-miles at 9:44 min/mi). For the most part we stuck to that schedule. We dropped my sister off and then Celeste and I did 400m at 6:30 min/mi and the last two miles respectively at 8:40 and 8:36 min/mi — it’s our planned MRP.

Remember this tree?

The tree has been cleared.

Overall it was a great run; 14.75 with one of my new pairs of running shoes. I hate breaking them in.

And finally, after all the lottery drawings I’ve entered for races, I finally got into one!!!

Cherry Blossom 10-Miler

I’m so excited because we LOVE D.C.

Have you ever gotten in races through lottery drawings? Have you ever ran Cherry Blossom? If so, how’s the course? Tips?

Respectin’ the Taper

7:40 AM: Turbo Fire Core – COMPLETED

I read somewhere that working on your core a few weeks before the marathon is always a good thing. So, that’s just what I did this morning. Here’s how the weekend went down.

On Friday, I ran a few errands around 3:30 and got home around 5. I got a delivery in; a new chair for Lili. I was pretty excited, but had to wait for P to get home so he could put it together. While Lili played, I took the leftover white rice from yesterday and made fried rice.

Because this is what Asians do with their leftover white rice.

It’s the easiest thing to do when you don’t want to waste your white rice (oh, and did I mention it’s tasty?). All you need is the white rice, 3 TBP of soy sauce (I also used 1/2 a TBP of hoisen sauce), green peas, salt, scrambled eggs, 3 TBP of olive oil.

When P got home, he put the chair together while Lili and I ate dinner. I gave her a bath and then we played while P ate his dinner. It was time to wind down so we read three books before putting her down to sleep.

I Love You Through & Through

It was a book from Emma on my baby shower. Wow, that seemed like ages ago.

I honestly don’t remember what time I feel asleep at but I knew I had to wake up at the butt-crack of dawn to work at my part-time job. I haven’t worked there in quite some time so I wanted to get there a bit early.

Oh, Dunkin Donuts, How I missed thee.

And I very rarely get D&D, but when I work at this office, it’s on the way. So yes, it’s my treat.

Of course, we ran late. No biggie. I got home after 2pm with lunch and then took a nap with the bear. When we woke up, I fed her, we managed to do some laundry and then I laid out my running clothes. Oh, also, my boss gave me Lili’s birthday gift (I told you, I hadn’t seen her in so long and she had a conference so she couldn’t make it out to Lili’s birthday).

Check out my new robe.

How cute is this new robe?

Sittin’ in my new Elmo chair watching Elmo.

Oh, and there is the new Elmo chair I bought for her. She absolutely LOVES it.

So, after we did all this and a delivery of clothes I ordered came in, Lili and I took a nap. Nice! When we woke up an hour and change later, I fed her, we played, P did more laundry and I gave her a bath. I had to run 18-miles the next morning and the last 12-miles my sister and another friend, Celeste, would join me. So, Pedro mapped out some miles for me to meet her at her house. I didn’t feel like driving anywhere so it worked out perfectly.

I woke up at around 5:30 the next morning and had a cup of coffee. I changed and rocked in the glider in Lili’s room. She woke up so I laid next to her. She was in such a happy mood.

Stay home, Mommy.

I brought her to P around 6:50 and headed out the front door at 7:05. Yes, I was running late. The first 5.3-miles were alone. It was a tad cold out, but I pushed through the winds (oh and the HILLS). I got to my sister’s with 5-minutes to spare and Celeste was warming up. My sister came down and we banged out 12-miles but I still needed to finish less than a mile. Celeste wanted to run 16, so we took off together and went on the track. Celeste and I did one loop around the track at about an 8:45 min/mi pace. My Garmin beeped and I cooled down by running back to my sister’s while Celeste finished her 1.5-mile run.

My semi-new Garmin purchased in June 2011.

So that’s my last long run until NYC. I’m anxious about the race because there’s about 47,000+ runners and that’s just too much… I’m hoping it’s not overly crowded and I won’t be bumping into a ton of people. I’m running this for the experience than a PR even though Courtney (and a few others) really think I can PR on this course if I run it smart. So we’ll see. I kind of don’t want to get my expectations too high.

Also, my ITB was kind of sore at mile 13. I got a bit nervous, but I seemed to run through it just fine. I hope it doesn’t fail me. I took care of it when I got home.

Oh, why hellllllo, Compression socks.

I foam rolled, put some arnica flora gel on and then pretty much lounged in my compression socks.

Do you race in compression socks or just use them post-race/running? I know a lot of people that race in them, but I think it would make me hotter.

Oh, I also decided to wear shorts on marathon day. I plan to have P at the finish line with my bag of clothes so I can keep warm. I know I probably won’t spot him and it’s a LONG WALK out of Central Park, but I’ll deal.

Snag of the day?

Leopard Print Scarf for $1.69

Can’t go wrong with a less than $2 scarf. Gotta love craft shows.

Let’s get this Monday over with, shall we?

Zoo, Runs & Family Time

5:45 AM: Chalene Turbo Fire Sculpt – COMPLETED

I had an amazing weekend with the family. I just can’t get enough of my daughter. I did get my runs in: 3-miles, 13-miles and 5-miles. In addition, I got all my lifting in with Chalene. She has done amazing things to my body. I highly recommend her. In any event, the weekend was filled with family time and not just P, Lili and myself. We spent it with both our families for the most part.

Friday: I got home by 2 and did some laundry. I played with Lili, cleaned up the house and started cooking. We were having Mexican night with my sister and her family. We watched a movie and they were out by 9:30.

Saturday: What was supposed to be my long run morning, turned out to be a swap day. I did my 3-miles and lifted. I then put Lili down for a nap and we decided to skip her gym/music class so we could go to the zoo.

Papa and Lili

Mommy & Lili on the Carousel

We had a ton of fun!! I was so happy we decided to go because it was a gorgeous day. The sun was out and there was a nice breeze. The rest of the day we spent just hanging out at the house.

Sunday: Oh, yeah… the long run. 13-miles then showered and ready to head out for errands while P did some fantasy football research. Sunday was a day for just the girls. Lili and I headed out to the Christmas Tree Shop. She wore her Jets cheerleader outfit the entire day.

She was so tired as you can see in the picture above. By the time we got to our bagel spot, she was knocked out. We ended up taking a nap together when we got home and when she woke up, we headed out to Trader Joe’s for more food shopping.

Monday: Lili and I left the house at around 7:30 (later than I had wanted to leave) and went for a run. We ran through three parks yesterday; a nice 5-mile run.

Post-run, we hit the playground. She met a friend and was screaming and playing. Then she went on the swings for a bit. We headed home by 9. I made her breakfast, tried to put her down for a nap but she wasn’t having it. So I lifted weights and then showered. We headed out to my in-laws at around noon. Of course, that was when Lili decided to nap. I ate lunch with my in-laws. When Lili finally woke up, they played with her. I talked to my FIL for a bit and snagged THREE beautiful paintings that I saw in the attic. He is so talented. He said he’ll frame them when they get back from Spain.

Three hours later, we had to go. We bid them farewell with lots and lots of hugs. We will miss them.

Lili and I headed over to my parents’ house and hung out with my sister and Scarlett. My brother’s girlfriend came home from studying so we hung out with her too. Two hours later, Lili and I headed home and went for an hour walk around the neighborhood.

Really, I have to count my blessings daily. P and I are so grateful to have such a healthy baby girl, parents that are awesome, siblings including close friends that rock and each other. Life is so good.

How often do you spend time with your families? Do you live close to your parents, siblings?

Weekend in a Glance

5:00 AM: Chalean Push Circuit 2 – COMPLETED

5:45 AM: 4-Mile run – COMPLETED

I feel like this weekend was a “run, sleep, eat, repeat” kind of weekend. Here’s the day-by-day recap:

Saturday: Lili and I woke up at 5am. We got dressed and headed over to my sister’s for a quick breakfast before heading over to Raceway Park.

Ready to Roll

We were ahead of schedule and hit traffic right by the entrance. Seriously, it took 35-minutes to take a left turn. Sheesh. We were WAVE 3, but ended up in WAVE 5. It was such a wonderful experience. Everyone was hyped up. The music was pumping. There were, I think, 14,000 runners. MADNESSSSS.

Running to the Finish Line

Before & After

I’m not sure if the volunteers didn’t want to throw the color directly at me or what. I know, it doesn’t look like I was touched that much.

Post-race, we took a few group pictures.

We didn’t start together, but we certainly finished together. It was lots of fun (minus the traffic getting in and out).

Post-race, we celebrated with food and then Lili and I took a nap. We also stopped at my mom’s to visit her and then we were home by 8PM.

Sunday: I woke up bright and early again. Lili and I ate breakfast and then I dropped her off at my mom’s. Then I headed over to meet my sister for our 17-mile run. It was kind of muggy/humid. The sun kept peeking in and out. It went pretty well though. My sister was hating every minute of it (starting with the first mile) and I kept telling her to stop thinking that way. She wanted to quit at mile 14, but I told her that we’d just slow it down. She needs to stop being so negative. We finished strong together and 17-miles was DONE just like that…

Sistahs that run.

Color Run + 17-Mile Run = FEED US!!!

The rest of the day was spent half with my mom and the other half at home being lazzzzzzy.

Monday: I thought yesterday was going to be a complete LAZZZZY day like the previous evening. It started out that way at first. Lili woke up and I fed her. Then we played and played until nap #1. I almost fell asleep with her, but ended up just laying next to her until she woke up. I made homemade pancakes for Pedro (at noon) and ate leftovers with Lili. Then we played before heading out to go food shopping. When I got home, I did a list of chores:

1. Prepared chicken in the slow-cooker
2. Three loads of laundry
3. CLEAN BATHROOM
4. CLEAN DINING ROOM & KITCHEN
5. VACUUM HOUSE
6. Cut up fresh fruits
7. Make mashed potatoes.
8. WORKOUT

Lili and I ate dinner at about 6:45. Pedro came home from his mom and dad’s at about 7. I prepared his food, washed the dishes, gave Lili a bath and put her to sleep. I folded the rest of the laundry and put it away.

Is that the most productive weekend ever???? You’d think I’d be tired, but Lili woke up at 4AM this morning and I rocked her back to sleep at 5. I worked out, showered, prepared breakfast, packed P’s breakfast and lunch, folded the last of the laundry form the dryer, fed Lili, did my hair and dropped Lili off early. I talked to my MIL and my niece and nephew were there too. So yeah, I was late to work. HAAHAHAH

Has anyone ever run the Color Run? If not, I think you should do it at least once. It’s a fun, un-timed run. Everyone was pumped up, excited, happy, etc. Lots of walkers and definitely some runners. I ran most of it except at each color station. I stopped for a minute. Look it up. See if it’s in your area.

LDW

5:40 AM: Chalean Extreme Push Circuit 3 + Burn it Off – COMLETED

I ended up doing two Chalean workouts because I was behind on my speed workout and was so pressed for time yesterday since Lili decided to wake up at 4am on Thursday morning and not go back to sleep until 5. We fell asleep together on the couch until 7am and knew I only had time for one or the other. I really, really need to get my run in, so that’s what I did.

Run, RuN, RUN

I did 10×400 (even though the scheduled called for 16×400). Like I said, I was really cutting it close.

My daughter has a new obsession. She must sit on the ledge of the tread. It’s so cute how she does it, too. She backs up, squats a bit to feel it out, backs up some more, realizes that she still isn’t quite there, and then backs up once more before taking a seat. Then she sits and smiles.

Post run, I showered, got Lili ready and headed out to my mom’s. I made it just in time for work only to find a huge stack of files to work on. UGH! When was it ever this busy the last week of August?!? NEVER!!!! It’s been the busiest.two-weeks.ever. Fortunately, Lili has been entertained with family.

Tia & Lili

Lil’ Runner

Sab & Lili

Scarlett & Lili

She’s so lucky to be surrounded by family all week long.

Anyway, so excited that it’s Labor Day Weekend. Plans? 5k Color Run, 17-mile run, shopping, hanging with family and relaxing. I have a hefty to-do list that I’ve already started.

Pay Bills (Gas, Electric, Mortgage, etc.)
Bank (deposit + withdraw)
5 3 loads of laundry
Food Shop
Straighten up the house
Jogger, Rain Guard, Car Seat Base
Pack clothes for tomorrow
Lay out clothes for Sunday

Seems like a pretty long list, huh? P’s not coming with us tomorrow, in fact, we might sleep at my sister’s tonight!!! Family sleep-over?!? That could be fun. We are leaving as early at 5:45 AM tomorrow. WOAH.

Anybody else have exciting LDW plans? Are you all prepared to hit traffic next week when school starts up? Oh, the joys of the morning commute.