Tuesday Talk: Mid Summers Night

This past weekend was a great but busy weekend. We spent time together, played, did chores and started working on the home school room. Let me just take a quick moment to say my husband amazes me and I am now more than ever so excited to share that space with you when it is done.

The highlight of our weekend had to be the Mid Summers Night Fun Run. It was fun run #I lost count and a good time for all. Today I wanted to share a few details while bombarding you with pictures of cute kiddos running. What can I say, for this running mama it just doesn't get much cuter. I hope you enjoy them too.

Our local Kia dealership sponsored our girls to run in this race.
They wore some super cute Kia shirts for advertising, my girls got to race for free. It was a win, win for all.

Getting ready for race time.

Pre-race family photo

Here they are "the crazy quartet" as we like to call them.

It doesn't get much cuter than this group. 

Marissa was off to race by herself but Emily decided she wanted to race with daddy so mommy could take pictures.

Your mom might be a blogger if... 

Lined up ready to race. 

Anna and I busy doing our proud mama thing.

And before we knew it they were off!

Marissa was all business

Emily was quite possibly the happiest little runner ever.

This was a pretty simple race out and back on a local gravel trail.

About 9-10 minutes later here came Marissa.

For the first time ever Marissa managed to come in first among the 4 friends. To say she was excited may be a slight major understatement. I think she said "I beat Jonathan" to anyone who would listen to her. In fact I had to have a talk about being a humble "winner" with her in the car.

I must add that I did smile to myself. It brought back so many memories of being a little girl who used to always beat the boys. There is just something so exciting about that when your 7. Don't get used to it baby girl. Here in about 6 more years things just change. 

Emily on the other hand....still smiling and having a grand old time she came in towards the back of the pack.

She was cheerfully greeted by her sister who was probably saying "I beat Jonathan!"

A great race always requires a post race snack.

What better than ice cream in mid July!

Yup, definitely the highlight of the weekend.

Now they are already asking the question that every runner asks when finishing a race.

"When can we do it again?"

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Kids Classic 2015

About a month ago we attended the 30th Annual Kids Classic Fun Run. The Kids Classic is a free running event meant to encourage physical fitness and track interest in Pre K - 6th grade students.
I signed Marissa up to run in a  "competitive" race, one lap around the stadium. Emily was excited to run a race too (a not so competitive race across the football field where everyone gets a ribbon). 
I have to be honest. I was NERVOUS for Marissa. Part of it was wanting to see her succeed. As a homeschooler the kid doesn't have a lot of experience with competitive sports, let alone with a group of 20 some girls the same age as her. I was nervous she would be scared and I was nervous she would quit. I just wanted her to do her best, not give up and be proud of herself whatever the outcome.
  I watched her line up with the group of girls and my stomach was flipping and flopping. They took off and I had no idea what to expect.

Before I knew it she had pulled away from the pack and was running in 4th place. I went from sitting, to standing, to standing at the front of the bleachers then jumping up and down yelling and cheering her on all in about 30 seconds. 

She ran and ran her little heart out and the little girl that I was so nervous for did something I never imagined her doing. She came in 4th place earning herself a spot in the top 6 and a medal.

Words can not express how proud I felt at that moment. Sure the medal was an awesome bonus but seeing her so persistent, focused and just watching her run. It was awesome.

Still on an emotional high I had to scurry off to run with Emily. We joined the group and made our run down the football field.

It was a great day on the track with my girls.

I hope and pray for many more in the future. 

JMR Kids Run 2015

What a weekend y'all!
We ran, we played, we enjoyed friendship. It was everything that I wish every weekend was. Well everything except the middle of the night tornado scare that resulted in me getting less than four hours of sleep Saturday night... after waking up at 4:00 for my race Saturday morning #FAIL. That part, that part I could have done without. 
I have so much I could share today, but to avoid the longest blog post ever I'll have to break this up a bit over the next few days. Let's start at the beginning, Friday night.
Friday night was the 2015 JMR Kid One Mile Fun Run.
With two prepared, excited runner girls ready to go we left the house.

Emily was showing me just how ready to run she was.

For the first time Marissa had decided she was going to run a race alone. This girl has came so far from last year. I quickly delegated Russ to run with Emily leaving me to play "photographer" Wahoo!

It was so exciting and weird being on the other side of the race.

The official race photographer caught this shot... Oh my heart. She really is just the sweetest little girl. Also they clearly take better race pictures than I ever will so the ones that say "official race photo" I did not take :).

Marissa finished first at about 10:32. Not too bad seeing she started almost all the way at the back of the pack!

Official race photo

Emily came in a minute or two later. 

This girl is going to be a distance runner if I ever saw one. Just look at how happy she is. 

Official race photo

Some Gatorade and granola bars.

A picture with friends.

My kids absolutely love this race, it is the fun run highlight of the year. It is so great to get the kids involved in an event that is so special to me. I hope they continue to enjoy it for years and years to come.

How was your weekend?

Any highlights?

Freeman Fun Run "Race-Recap"

This weekend was the Freeman Family One Mile Fun Run. 
Usually fun runs come with a registration fee of $10-15 a kid. But this one, it was free. Yahoo! Sign us up!  My girls absolutely love doing fun runs and free ones are pretty few and far between. There was just one problem, I was supposed to run 11 miles that morning.  I would call myself an early bird but there was NO way in the world I was waking up early enough to run 11 miles, get the girls ready, fed and be there by 7:30. So Friday night I squeezed on my spandex for 11 miles of pavement pounding. 

Come Saturday morning I was up, smiling and ready to log one more mile for the weekend with my girls
At some point on our 11 mile run my friend Anna and I joked about how funny it would be if the kids took an "obligatory" pre-race selfie (like we always do). Once the idea was out there we just knew we had to follow through. After a little lesson and some laughing on our part we had this. 

#nailedit

Does it get much better than that?! They just started and they are already better at them than I am.
 We decided to let the 2 kids, 2 parent situation work its benefit and buddy up. Marissa chose to run with her dad. I must admit, I was a little (or a lot) heart broken. I have such happy memories of the very first fun run I did with her the day before I ran my very first half marathon. Now she is choosing Dad?! You see, she used to always see me as the "runner". Not any more friends. She said "Daddy's faster than you mommy!" *Knife to the heart* Although if I am being honest I must admit over the course of one mile, she is most likely correct. 
So I got to run Emily's first fun run with her, which was awesome. She was so excited to run with mommy. She is a self proclaimed "fast runner girl" and boy she took off on me, not wanting to stop for almost half a mile.


We did a whole lot of hand holding along the way too.

Both girls finished strong and received a medal for the accomplishment. I love how excited they get about their medals.

Another great family run in the books


I wish I had more pictures to share but sadly I am still waiting for them to publish the finish line photos from the race. I am sure they will do that about the time this post publishes. But if I waited it would be another month. You know how that situation works, right? Hopefully they will upload them soon and I'll be able to share a few more pictures Friday.     Passing on a healthy lifestyle to our kids is HUGE for us. 
Here are some ways we do that in our home.
We lead by example// If I'm not being an active role model for them, who is. The girls are very aware of and supportive of my exercise habits, even though most of my gym hours are logged while they are getting their beauty sleep.
We play with our kids// Bike rides, fun runs, and even the backyard. Playing as a family is awesome.
I kick them out of the house some times// Book reading, playing, coloring and some TV are great but some days I unashamedly make them go play outside. Even if it means locking the screen door to keep them out there. They always seem glad about it in the end. 
Teach them how to make healthy nutrition choices young// Each house is different so this isn't a one size fits all subject. But at our house we talk about making good choices with our kids and treats are a treat. They are never to young to learn.
Have you done a fun run with your kids?
How do you encourage a healthy lifestyle in your home?